Remnants of a Gold Gear
by TheManThatWalksTheAbyss115
Summary: He had survived the impossible. Made himself stand out from his fellow gears through prowess on the battlefield. He saved his brothers and sisters of the cog family, he even helped save the human race. But after dying and being transported to a new world with old problems he has to find a way back to his world because there's always someone waiting for you to come back.GoldenGearAU
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Death and a new arrival

 **For all of you who are reading this thank you, first fan fiction I have ever made, so pointers are helpful if you all want me to continue this story.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY and Gears of War**

 **These fantastic forms of entertainment belong to Rooster Teeth and Epic Games.**

* * *

How long had he been here? At this dry-dock, fighting the locust? This was who he was a cog in the machine, a piece of equipment to run it… a gear. Now one would say fighting like this would bring even the most hardened soldiers down, but he wasn't like most soldiers. He has many names: prized piece, key cog, Goldilocks (mostly by his friends… the ones that are alive anyways), ground walker, filthy human, waste of skin… big brother. But out of all the names he had taken he preferred the name his family gave him… Walker.

 _"_ _You know it's really hard to keep your cool when you're getting shot at from three fucking directions"_ That's the first thing that came to Walker's mind as he reloaded his lancer with a fresh clip before popping out of cover and firing a portion of it into an oncoming locust drone that had been at his right side electric fence. He had been at the dry dock for the past two days fighting the locust with only thirty seconds of breathing room ' _I thought that Fenix had killed that bitch Myrrha and the rest of her god forsaken race in the bomb?'_ Walker ducked just in time to have a boom shot sailed over his head and hit the decoy behind him. Eddie ducked just in time to have a boom shot sailed over his head and hit the decoy behind wave was almost over which means he could rebuild his defenses and scrounge around for some ammo and grenades, as soon as the Boomer shot its boomshot Walker popped out of cover and shot his Gnasher shotgun point blank which caused its head to explode in a shower of brain matter and skull fragments. After the Boomer's body hit the floor, the telltale signs of a single pair of feet and the raspy voice of a Theron guard signaling that that was the final enemy for this wave. Walker took cover as a bolt from torque bow hit the wall exploding a few seconds later, while the Theron was reloading Eddie switched his Gnasher with his lancer and poured the remainder of the clip into the Theron's knees drawing a hiss of pain from it and knocking it's weapon out of its hand. As the Theron was trying to crawl towards its weapon Walker chuckled menacingly and cracked his knuckles while walking towards the down locust scum, "Crawl yo ass back here." Grabbing it by its collar and and flipping it over Walker began to beat the ever loving shit out of it, blood began flying out of the locust as he delivered savage punches to its face, as its face began to cave Eddie decided to end this pathetic piece of locust shit with his strongest hay maker which was rewarded with a sickening pop of skull fragments and brain matter.

After that little execution he took a few seconds to breath and recollect himself before rebuilding his defenses and grabbing some ammo. He looked at his watch and realized he still had about 15 seconds, so he decided to "buy" some ink grenades and put it on the right side of his belt next to his serrated combat knife. "Okay, lancer with full ammo: check, Gnasher shotgun: check, snub pistol and Boltok pistol: check, ink and frag grenades: check. I still have some cash left might as well "buy" that long-shot to pop some skulls." As the tell tale signs of the round starting he quickly rushed to the other side of the dock to buy the longshot and put it next to him in case his Gnasher ran out of shells. Walker got back to his base as the first few grubs started firing their hammerbursts at him forcing him to dive into cover and wait for the bullets to stop signifying that they had to reload, Walker took this chance to fire a couple of round into two of the first few grubs that touched his electric fence. As hot lead tore through the thick hide and into the flesh of the locust a sniper from across the dock managed to shoot Eddie in his arm stunning him for a few seconds and forcing him back into cover.

"Aah! Holy fucking Christ that hurt. Two can play that game bitch," Walker said.

True to his word he swapped out his Gnasher for the long-shot and aiming down the sights, seeing the fucker that shot him Walker then fired a round and was rewarded with a shower of gore. As the wave went droned on ( **AN: no pun intended)** he saw something that froze him solid, not even 30 feet away was lambent Berserker.

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit! How the fuck am I supposed to kill this thing? The only reason I killed the last one was because I had a one-shot FUCK!" Walker cursed

Unfortunately for him the mutated locust heard him and began to charge at him forcing him to dodge down the right stairwell to avoid its rampage. Walker began to roadie run down the steps and take cover behind a piece of rubble, holding his breath as the lambent berserker passed by him before stopping and sniffing the air hoping to find his scent. Crouching down and making his steps quiet as possible he made his way back up to his base and grabbed his one shot that had been sitting in the corner, seeing that the berserker was across the dock next to a gas tank he took a gamble. Shooting the tank with the one shot it managed to engulf the berserker in flames, screaming as the flames engulfed her Walker saw that her heart was exposed. Carefully aiming the one shot and hearing the beep signifying that it was ready to be fired he took the shot. The bullet obliterated the heart and went through her back and hit the wall behind her, normally this would have made a any locust fall to the ground dead but it only prompted the berserker to have a final charge right at Walker. Before he could react the berserker was already on him and wrapped her fingers around his chest area. He felt a bone-crushing pain resonate throughout his body mainly on his spine. As he and the berserker stared each other down in malice he noticed that it was pulsating and glowing _'The fuck why is it glowing like that it's almost as if-'_ he came to a horrifying realization _'_ _Oh Shit it's self destructing, Fuck! NO NO NO NO NO NO! I haven't even got the supplies back yet! I can't die yet... I-I didn't get to tell Ajay goodbye yet."_ he thought as he felt his spine cracking and his organs rupturing from the intense pressure. In his final moments he laughed it wasn't out of malicious intent or joy... it was out of sadness. Sadness because his younger brother would grow up without him, get to know everyday that his friends would be heartbroken, and to know that eventually he would be added to the list of names that have been considered KIA.

"I'm sorry Ajay, big bro ain't gonna be there when you wake up." Those were the final words he said as a bright light engulfed him and the berserker and they both vanished leaving a picture of him and his brother in Azura floating to the ground.

* * *

It was about midnight at Beacon Academy and everyone was sleeping, except a few individuals who had to stay up for some late night studies.

"Ugh! There's nothing to doooo." groaned Ruby

Weiss just looks at her partner wondering what's wrong with her now. Usually she gets like this when there isn't anymore cookies or she's bored. Pray to Oum that is isn't the latter.

"Let me guess, you're bored and you want one of us to keep you entertained?" asked Weiss with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes." Replied Ruby with a bit of hope in her eyes, the two jsut stared at each other before Weiss replied.

"Sure" said Weiss

"Really?!" asked ruby silver eyes gleaming with happiness.

"...No. Now go to sleep we have that test for Port in the morning." Weiss replied, giving out a huff of annoyance Ruby just turned to Blake and Yang hoping they could keep her occupied. Only to find them asleep, eventually giving up Ruby just went to her bed and started to drift off into sleep.

* * *

Ozpin sat in his office reading over files that held the new students documents. While doing this he noticed something on his computer, ( **AN: Ozpin uses a fucking computer in my story, so deal with it *insert flipping sunglasses over eyes*)** a massive energy spike was popping up in the area where the students grabbed the relics during initiation.

"Hmm, that's odd. Usually that area has low energy signatures, this might be a problem." Ozpin muttered. He thought about it for a few minutes before deciding that this would be a good experience for some of the students.

"Glynda." Ozpin said through his intercom.

"Yes Ozpin what is it, it better be good since you're calling at 1:30 in the morning." Glynda grumbled.

"Oh I think it is, can you come up to my office and look at something with me?" asked Ozpin. Knowing that the man we keep at this she gets dressed and heads up to his office.

 **10 minutes later...**

"What is it Ozpin it's early in the morning and I have class in about six hours." She said.

"Take a look at this," Ozpin then flipped the screen around to let her see.

She saw what looked like a dark skinned man in a golden helmet with glowing blue eye holes, a bulky combat chest plate, and a strange item hanging around his neck fight a pack of Beowolves with what looked like a hybrid of a chainsaw and assault rifle. The man dived to his right as a Beowolf leaped towards him and crash onto the ground, the man then activated the chainsaw and bringing it down on the wolf's torso splitting it in half. Another Beowolf then tried to get the man from behind, only to have its skull split in half as the man swung the chainsaw around right under its eye socket. He then took out a serrated edge combat knife and proceeded to charge at the remaining wolves, slashing at them with the precision of a professional surgeon. Putting away his knife he then shot the last wolf that attempted to run away from him. Glynda could only watch in horror as the man stuck his chainsaw in the last Beowolf and started it making the beowolf howl in pure agony as its insides were being torn out by the savage teeth of the weapon.

"W-who is this man?" Glynda asked in pure shock and horror. In all her years of teaching she had never seen someone take down a pack of beowolves with such ruthlessness, granted she had seen a few students be brutal in fighting, but what this person did would be considered downright savage.

"To be honest I don't know, one moment the camera is fine then the next he's there." Ozpin replied with some shock in his voice, he had never been one to be scared or shocked but this person managed the impossible in just a few short moments of his time here.

"Go get teams RWBY, JNPR, and CFVY." said Ozpin back in his monotone voice.

"You can't be serious sir, I mean I can understand team CFVY but the first years this would be suicide." Glynda replied in shock.

"I understand your concerns Glynda but think of this as a training excersise for them. Plus the second years haven't been on a mission for a while now." Ozpin said.

Glynda just sighed knowing that the man has a point, "Alright let me just tell the teams and we'll be on our way." she said

Ozpin just merely smiled and sipped on his mug as she left the room before looking at the screen, "Who are you?" he said as he zoomed in on Walker's gear tag.

* * *

"So, explain to me why we have to wake up at the butt of dawn to go on a mission." complained Yang as she yawned still a little pissed that they had to get up so early.

"As much as pains me to say this I do have to agree with Yang, why do we have to wake up this early in the morning professor?" Blake asked coolly. Ruby, Weiss and the other teams shook their heads in agreement.

"As you all know there has been a strange energy signature in the forest near the ruins, we are currently sent out to investigate who or what caused them." Glynda sternly said, she had to keep her composure in front of the students.

"So what do we do when we find the source of said energy signature?" asked Coco

"if it's a person we bring them back to Beacon and talk to them. If it's something else and is hostile we use lethal force." Glynda said seriously to the three teams who paled at the thought of having to take another's life.

"I-It wouldn't have to come to that right" Jaune nervously asked while holding his stomach trying to contain the contents in his stomach from spilling all over the bullhead. The pilot then signals that they're near the drop zone before landing and opening the bullhead doors. The teams suddenly hear gunfire coming from the north of them and bolt in that direction.

* * *

Walker had been fighting these fucking werewolves for the past hour since he got here. To be honest he had no idea if this was God giving him the middle finger or if it's another chance at life (he hoped it was the second option). Ducking underneath another werewolf he switched out his lancer for his Gnasher and pointed it at the wolf's chest letting out a blast of shells that ripped through its torso spraying blood and gore all over the trees and grass. Jumping up in the air as one of the wolves sailed under him he shot the back right leg which tore through the flesh and bone, before he ran over to it, flipping it over on its back and curb stomping it. Two wolves tried to tackle him from both sides, but he threw himself back as they crashed into a furry heap, while the wolves were on the ground, Walker then shot one with his boltok pistol and pistol whipped the other one before twirling the gun on his finger and holstering it. As the last wolf hesitated on whether it should flee or fight it suddenly felt a pain in its legs before falling down and looking up. For the first time in its life it felt fear, not the one and done fear... this was a paralyzing fear that froze you solid. Walker began walking over to the downed wolf cracking his knuckles and chuckling darkly, "You thought you could get the drop on me, huh? No, you think you're the dominate species of this planet,but until you went through what I went through you can't say shit." The wolf began to cry out in pain as it felt its face be pushed in by the savage punches of this... this demon that arrived on its territory. It didn't even get the chance to howl for help as its head exploded in gore.

"Where the fuck did I go when I died, and THE FUCK HAPPENED TO THE MOON!" Walker screamed when he looked at the moon. How the hell did he not notice it before, he didn't have time to think as he heard the bushes behind him rustle making him whip his head around and peer into the bushes before aiming his lancer at them.

* * *

Glynda and the students could only stare in horror as this man or whatever he was savagely beat a beowolf to death with his bare hands and shrug it off as if it's nothing. They were about to report back to Ozpin, but stopped when he whipped his head around and peered into the bushes.

"THE FUCK IS OUT THERE!?" the man shouted, the faunus in the group winced at the volume of his voice. It wasn't his voice that was the only thing that unnerved them it was his helmet and the malicious aura that seemed to resonate off of him. His helmet looked elegant but rugged and war torn, his aura though... it seemed to give off the vibe that only brought pain, suffering, and death wherever it went. Seeing that talking to him was the best course of action the teams slowly came out of the brush to at least try to mitigate the situation.

The night was silent for both parties the savage man and Glynda and the students.

"...Who are you" his voice was barley above a whisper but everyone heard it clear as day due to the silence of the night. Seeing that the silence had been broken Glynda decided that she would introduce herself and the students to the strange man in armor. Clearing her throat she spoke up.

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch, professor at Beacon Academy and these are my students and you are?" she asked.

"..." he was silent for the time being until he could confirm that they wouldn't try anything. He had met people in the past that were polite manner wise but assholes demeanor wise.

Glynda just sighed as the man refused to state his name, "Sir we can't get anywhere if you don't talk. Now I'll ask again, who are you?" she said with more force in her voice.

"Walker" he replied

"Walker?" she asked

"Just Walker and that's all you're going to get." he growled a bit. They weren't going to get shit out of him until they said who they were, so far only the teacher said who she was but he didn't hear about the rest of them. He then noticed the woman grip what looked like a riding crop _'_ _Seriously? A fucking stick? She better not hit me with that or I'm putting her ass in the ground.'_ he thought.

Glynda sighed again as she knew what he wanted, information. He was testing to see if they could be trusted or not. So she called the children over to introduce themselves so she could get back to Beacon and have Ozpin handle this.

"Children. Please introduce yourselves to Mr. Walker." she said

H-Hi I'm Ruby Rose... I like your weapons." she nervously said. He cocked an eyebrow behind the helmet, _'_ _another weapon lover... still not touching my shit though but I feel like I could ask her to hold onto my if I need to.'_

"Weiss Schnee" a white haired girl formally introduced herself with a curtsy _'Seriously, who the hell does that anymore... wait forgot I'm on a different planet never mind.'_ he thought.

"Blake Belladonna pleasure to meet you." her quiet voice met his ears and he raised an eyebrow at her before noticing her bow twitch _'Last time I check bows don't twitch... she's hiding something, I need to keep an eye on her.'_ he summarized in his head.

"Sup, Yang Xiao Long. We should hang out sometime" after she said that she winks at him _'This girl already annoys me for some reason, I feel like her jokes will be the end of me.'_

Next to the four girls are two males and two girls. The blonde boy looks like a weakling but has a strong soul to him, the red head next to him looks like she came out of some sort of Greek mythology book, the hyper active orange haired girl, and the quiet ninja guy with black and pink hair.

"Jaune Arc... uh nice to meet you?"

"Pyrrah Nikos"

"Lie Ren"

"NORA! Nice to meet you! are you a robot!? can you shoot laser out of your eyes!? Can you fly!?" question after question this girl spouted more nonsense than the grubs back home, _'I'm about to shoot this girl... Oh my god! Shut the fuck up already... she's still asking questions. She says one more I'm putting one between her eyes.'_ The next group wasn't so bad... at least he thinks.

"Coco Adel. You really need some new clothes honey those look like someone fished through a garbage can." _'Okay fuck you too, fucking fashionista.'_ he growled in his mind, but bit his tongue to avoid further conflict.

"Fox Alistair, a pleasure sir." _'Either this dude is blind or his eyes look like someone soaked them in milk for a year.'_

"M-My name is V-Velvet Scarlatina nice to meet you..." her quiet nervous voice came out. _'Wow she sounds so innocent, kind of cute actually... along with those rabbit ears and her- HOLD UP ONE FUCKING SECOND! RABBIT EARS!'_ he screamed in his mind.

"You have rabbit ears." he said suddenly surprising everyone for a second.

"Y-Yes" Velvet meekly answered not sure why he said that.

"How?" he asked actually confused if they were real or not. In all honesty he could give less that two shits but it doesn't hurt to know.

"Um, I was born like this...why?" she asked wondering why he would ask something like that. Blake hoped he wasn't some sort of racist like Cardin and his jockeys.

"Never seen someone who has animal parts where I'm from." he answered

This surprised everyone, how could one not know what a faunus was. They were practically everywhere on the face of Remnant.

"Where are you from Walter?" asked Goodwitch, hoping to at least get something from the man other than his name.

Walter processed in his mind _'Should I tell them? If I tell them they'll probably just lock me up but if I don't then we won't get anywhere out of this forest. Seriously though this place is starting to smell the latrines back home... As my CO once said "FUCK IT!"._

"A place called Sera" he answered before looking at the confused faces. Glynda just wondered where it was there wasn't any place on Remnant called Sera... she'll deal with this later and the children had classes in a few hours.

"Sir I'm going to need you to come with us." she said

"Why?" he asked with a raised eyebrow behind his helmet, he just met these people and they wanted him to come with them? Fuck that.

"So we can take you to our superior and figure out what you're doing here, now come on." grumbled Goodwitch as she and the students began walking back towards the bullhead to get back to Beacon. As they were walking Ruby noticed that walker wasn't following them.

"Hey, why aren't you following us?" she asked.

"...Because I don't trust any of you" he stoically answered, this drew suspicion from the them all but he could care less. He literally met them ten minutes ago and they expect him to follow them to their base? He'd be damned if they took him captive.

"What do you mean you don't trust any of us" Weiss asked irritably, she was up at two in the morning in a nasty ass forest and she had classes later.

"Exactly as it sounds, I literally met you people ten minutes ago and you're asking me to come to your base. Fuck that, that's a no go in my book." he gruffly replied back.

"It's an academy actually." Blake said

"Does it look like I care?" Walker said, to be honest he did care but only to get an idea of what he was dealing with.

"Um, well it's kind of hard to tell with that helmet on. Do you ever take that thing off?" said Yang wondering if he ever took that thing off, but was also wondering at what his face looked like underneath.

"The only time I take this off is to shower, otherwise no I don't." Walker said

"So... is it like stuck on your head?" Nora asked, _'Is she retarded? I'm seriously wondering if she is, I just said I take it off to shower which means it's not stuck.'_

"Seeing that we aren't going anywhere, give me three reasons as to why I should come with you all." Walker stated, if they could give him three good reasons then he would think about coming with them.

"Food" Blake said.

"A bed" Yang added.

"Clothes" Ruby chimed.

"What's wrong with the ones I have on now?" he asked wondering what was wrong with his current attire.

"They sort of look a bit worn?" she tried.

He just let out a heavy sigh, getting out of his combat gear was like being naked to him, it's like a second skin to him and removing it felt like being vulnerable.

"A shower." Weiss stated holding her nose at his stench which smelled like gunpowder, blood and sweat.

"Ugh, I know I'm going to regret this later... fine I'll come back with you, but on one condition." he said.

"Sure, what is it?" Glynda replied finally glad he accepted the offer.

"Any of you touch my shit without my permission I'll find where you sleep, rip your intestines out, and strangle you to death with them. Do I make myself clear?" he said darkly.

All the teams' faces lost a shade of color at the condition he made, even Nora lost her smile and was hiding behind Ren as he held his composure but was sweating at the threat.

"Yes we promise not to touch your stuff." Glynda said coming out of her shaken stupor, never had she met a man that gave her chills as much as the man standing before her and the students.

"Good now let's move, I haven't had a good night's sleep in two years." he said plainly while walking next to him raising his weapon and scanning for threats.

The Glynda and the teams looked at him surprised, the fact that he said that made them wonder... what happened to where he couldn't get a full night's rest.

* * *

Stepping onto the bullhead Walker just gazed at it amused at how simple this thing looked. It looked like miniature version of a king raven something he missed riding around in. As he sat down he set down the bag that was carrying his other weapons and began to look through them. He found it strange that the bag was there when he woke up here, it looked like his bag from when he was a cadet in boot camp. As he looked through it he found: a retro lancer (one of his favorites), a sawed of shotgun, a boomshot, a torque bow, his long shot that he "bought", a flamer, a one shot, and schematices on how to build a silver back. He wondered how the hell they all got here _'Maybe that's why the bag was so heavy when I lifted it.'_ He mused.

* * *

 **Ruby's POV**

Ruby was busy looking at Walker's figure in awe, as she gazed at it she saw what looked like a cog with a chain hanging around his neck and wondered if he was a mechanic because if he was than they both had something in common. But as she peered closer she saw that his name was engraved on it and it read _**'First Lieutenant Walker Ronin of the Coalition of Ordered Government"**_ she wondered if he was a soldier of some kind by the way he carried himself. As she thought about him she saw him reach down and look into his weapon bag and internally squealed at the sight of them.

 _'Oh my goodness! Those weapons look amazing I wonder if he'll let me take a peek at some of them.'_ She thought and was about to touch one but remembered what he said about touching his stuff without his permission and shuddered at his threat. She was then brought out of her train of thought when he asked her a question.

"Let me guess, you want to see my weapons?" he gruffly asked surprising her.

"W-what! How did you know I was going to ask that?" she said somewhat surprised at his correct assumption.

"You've been staring at me and the bag for two minutes straight and I was beginning to think there was something wrong with you because you started drooling when I opened the bag." He answered plainly. Ruby just blushed at being caught red handed and was about to deny it until he spoke up again.

"My weapons are the only thing you can touch until I trust you further, just don't fuck them up. They saved my ass more times than I can count" He said recalling the times the weapons saved his time during the war and at the dry dock. His mind clouded with anger and sadness thinking about his death, anger because that rabid bitch killed him and sadness because he'll never get to see his brother grow up.

"Sooo, what's that weapon called?" she asked pointing to the boomshot.

"This puppy is called the boomshot, good ole fashioned grenade launcher that has a range of up to forty meters and enough of a punch to put a whole in an armored vehicle." he replied while letting her hold the weapon before taking it back and putting it in the bag.

"What about the one with the bayonet on it? It looks similar to the one on your back." She observed with much interest _'Well what do you know. The kid has a eye for weaponry, she's definitely the one I could trust first... unlike the blonde one and the bow girl. Something about her doesn't seem right with her.'_ he thought.

"This one's called the retro lancer and before you ask why they'd change it I'll tell you about it later." he said already knowing Ruby was going to ask why it was called that. He could talk about weapons all he wants with them, but what happened on Sera stays with him. Ruby just huffed in annoyance knowing that he wouldn't tell her but continued asking about all the weapons.

"What about the sniper? Does it turn into anything?" She asked.

"What do you mean does it turn into anything?" he asked wondering as to why she would ask such a thing of course it doesn't turn into anything. What would it turn into a scythe?

"I mean does it turn into any melee weapon you know like my crescent rose." She said bringing out her weapon showing him what she meant.

Walker just stared in complete awe at the craftsmanship of the weapon in front of him. While he may be a weapon nut nothing he had could beat the beauty of the weapon in front of him...except his lancer nothing could top that hands down.

"Then no it doesn't sorry to burst your bubble." he said coming out of his weapon-gasm ( **AN: Get it? Eh? Eh? Okay I'll stop now.)** making ruby drop her shoulders that his weapons don't do anything but immediately perked up at what he said next.

"But it is capable of piercing a skull and ricocheting to the next." he said. He then pulled out the one shot and set it on the ground of the bullhead making it land with a big thunk drawing everyone's attention. The reactions were almost priceless. Blake and Yang went wide eyed at the site of the huge weapon, Weiss stopped filing her nails and had the same reaction as Blake and Yang, Jaune damn nearly fainted, Pyrrah covered her mouth and gasped at it, Nora was inspecting it with much interest and Ren just stared at it with his stoic expression. Glynda and team CFVY just stared at the weapon with a questioning look. Ruby just stared at the weapon with stars in her eyes, maybe he has the schematics so she can build one.

"Why on Oum's name do you need a weapon that that size?" asked Glynda voicing everyone's question.

"When you have an enemy that has an exoskeleton and can rip you apart in five seconds you'll need something capable of tearing through steel to stop it." he replied nonchalantly drawing their attention more.

"What can be that tough to where you need that?" asked Fox wanting to know more about this creature and hoping to get some more information of who Walker is and where he came from.

"Something that will brutalize your corpse into a bloody paste before you can even say fuck my life." Walker said mysteriously, "I see what you all are trying to do and it's not going to work on me." he said in a much darker tone.

"W-what do you mean?" asked velvet a little frightened at how quickly his voice changed from being comfortable and relaxed to dark and calculating.

"You all hope to get information out of me by asking me questions about Sera. When the time comes I'll tell you all but now I don't trust you all anyway shape or form. So drop it or something unfortunate will happen." he said in a serious undertone.

"L-like what?" Jaune asked nervously hoping this guy was just trying to scare them, oh how wrong he was because he swore Walker was smiling insanely behind his golden helmet.

"The last guy that tried to get me to talk ended up with his kneecaps shattered, his jaw broken, and his eyes gouged out of his sockets with a pencil." he Walker replied nonchalantly drawing looks of horror from the various students. Tension was high before he burst out laughing at how easily they had fallen for that joke. The students looked at him a little frightened wondering if he was insane or had a dark sense of humor, thanking that it was the second option. Ruby took the time to ask a question that had her attention the whole time. His helmet.

"Why do you always wear that helmet? I mean it looks really cool but don't you ever get tired of wearing it around?" she asked with such innocence that Walker actually felt conflicted to tell her why but decided to do it anyways.

"It's because I'm tired of getting blood and bone fragments in my face and to answer your second question no, I don't. I've been wearing this helmet for the past five years and don't feel like taking it off. Think of it as like a second skin to me like that those dresses you and snow princess over there wears." he replied with a bit of humor to his voice.

Weiss perked up at the mention of her name and felt insulted about her attire "It's a combat skirt. Thank you very much." She said as Ruby came to her side "Yeah." she added while giving Weiss a high five. Walker just rolled his eyes before they landed on a picture of him and his brother arm in arm at the shores of Azura. He picked up the picture and stared at it unaware that the rest of the crew was looking at him.

"What ya got there hot stuff?" Yang flirted while the RWB formed around Walker and looked at the picture of Walker with his helmet on crouching down with his left arm wrapped around what looked like a five year old dark skinned boy with a missing tooth smiling with bright in pure joy that his older brother was back home with him. On the picture it read: **Walker and Ajay Ronin enjoying the beach of Azura** underneath their names was a quote **Brothers till the end.** Walker snapped out of his daze and saw that team RWBY was looking at the photo of him and his brother before sighing, he was about to put it away but Ruby spoke up.

"Who was that?" she asked a little afraid that he would be pissed and try to kill them in their sleep.

"My baby brother." he just replied with a brotherly warm voice only found in the closest of siblings, a bond that couldn't be broken.

"What's he like?" Blake asked wanting to know more about his family he just looked at her, though she was a little unnerved by that unblinking gaze of his helmet, he finally answered not holding anything about his brother back.

"That kid would be described as the exact definition of a bundle of joy. Whenever I was on a crazed blood lust and couldn't be calmed down he always came to my side and banished the darkness. That kid was the one thing that pushed me forward through my struggle, hell he even told me that I was the hero to his storybooks... The one that even kept me from killing myself when we lost our parents in the war." he whispered the last part so quietly even Blake didn't hear it. The rest of the teams just merely smiled at what his brother is like, they wanted to ask him more questions to get more out of him but the bullhead landed and the bay doors opened.

"Well, time to go meet this VIP of yours."Walker stated gruffly before the Glynda and the teams led him to Ozpin's office.

* * *

As the teams and Walker were walking through the academy Walker couldn't help but be a bit impressed. The place was cool but it just couldn't match the beauty of Jaicinto. As team JNPR and CFVY were dismissed to their dorms team RWBY was tasked with bringing him up to Ozpin's office, they were tired but were promised the day off if Walker joined the school something the girls just couldn't pass up. As the elevator opened Walker was met with a room filled with clocks and gears ( **AN:another pun)** this place made Preston's office look like a pushover with how nice it looked.

"I'm glad you could make it Mr?" asked Ozpin

"Walker" answered Walker

"I'm glad you could make it Mr. Walker, may I ask why you were in Emerald forest this late at night?" asked Ozpin wondering what a man so young would be in the middle of a grimm infested forest so late at night and to survive such encounters.

"Dunno" Walker answered nonchalantly while scanning any escape routes for this place, this man rubbed him the wrong way. He was definitely hiding something.

"Alright, where are you from then? You don't look like a soldier from Atlas judging by that armor and the weapons you wield." Ozpin observed the man in front of him, he just couldn't read him with that helmet on his head but he sensed his aura. What he found in it was something dark, it was the feeling of death, pain, and sorrow locked away like some sick animal in a cage. Dismissing it for later Ozpin needed all the information he could get on this man.

"So what's your name young man?" he asked

"You already know my name, the fuck is the point of asking it a second time?" Walker replied before realizing what was going on. He started to chuckle mirthlessly confusing the professor and team RWBY.

"If I may ask what is so funny ?" Ozpin asked

Continuing to chuckle Walker replied "I see what you're trying to do. Trying to get a bead on me and see what I'm like, what makes me tick, what drives me, how I'll react, and so forth. Truth is you won't get any of that until you reveal what makes you do those things."

Ozpin narrowed his eyes _'The boy is smarter than he looks, but then again I don't know what he looks like with that helmet on to get a good read on him. Time will eventually be on my side and I'll figure out who he is but until then all I can do is play by his game.'_ he thought as he observed Walker and noticed his cog tag hanging around his neck and the ones in his pocket. Ozpin decided to ask the million dollar question about Walker.

"Did you have friends that have died recently?" Ozpin asked him hoping to gain some information on him.

At that question Walker's entire body went froze, no sign of muscles moving, his voice having any sound, or him even breathing. The girls in the room looked at him in worry wondering if he was okay. Although they just met him he seemed alright (when he wasn't a murderous sociopath wielding a chainsaw gun around), but this silence was unnerving and uncomfortable. They didn't understand why he would ask that question until they looked at his right pouch on his belt and saw something hanging... his friend's cog tags.

"Why would you ask a question like that?" Walker whispered in a dark low voice that sent chills down team RWBY's spines and even Ozpin himself could feel the tension in the room escalating at a rapid rate.

"It was just a question. You don't have to answer if you're not comfortable with." Ozpin said slightly calming the boy down but not by much, he could tell the boy was two words away from snapping and chose his words carefully in order not to activate a conflict.

"I have a proposition for you." Ozpin said calmly in order to soothe the boy which barely worked as he still looked ready to rip his throat out with his bare hands.

"What fucking proposition do you have in mind old man?" Walker growled out viciously ready to tear the old man in front of him into a new one and bathe his fingers in his eye sockets. The girls stood paralyzed in fear by Walker's new attitude, to Yang and Ruby he was like their father when he was angry but a thousand times worse. To Weiss it was also like her father but to Blake it was like some of the White Fang who lost themselves to blood lust, but this... this was worse than anything she's ever seen in her life. This man is literally the devil incarnated.

"I would like you to join my school." The girls just looked at Ozpin like he had just lost his mind. Glynda had kept quiet until he had said that and voiced her opinion "Ozpin you can't be serious!? What if he poses a threat to the students and faculty?"

"If I wanted to kill all you back in the forest I would have done it already." Walker stated, drawing all the eyes in the room. "The reason I kept you alive is because I need something from you all and if you can't provide it then I'm leaving. And try to hunt me down. I. Fucking. Dare. You. I love a good challenge when it comes to the cat and mouse game." he chuckled darkly at the thought of being hunted again like those hunter elites did back on Sera, only difference is that the hunters became the hunted as he kidnapped them and tortured them to death and left them as a message.

Sensing that if they didn't play by his rules lives would be at risk Ozpin asked the question, "What is it that you need?"

"A way back home." Walker replied while looking at them.

"I'll see what I can do about getting you home... Is there any reason as to why you want a way back home?" Ozpin asked finally glad that the tension disappeared.

Walker didn't say anything and just pulled out the picture of him and Ajay and slid it on the desk letting him and Glynda gaze at the picture wondering who it was until they read what was below the names. They just wondered how someone so psychotic could look so at peace or at least they assumed with that helmet on.

"That's your brother?" Glynda asked somewhat surprised that someone like him could be next to such an innocent child.

Yeah, the one thing that keeps me going and I'd do anything to get back to him. If I join your damn school will you promise to get me home?" Walker asked

"Yes I will" Ozpin replied

"Give me your word. If you want to learn more about me Ozpin look throught this data but I will warn you there is some shit not even you can unsee" Walker said

"I give you my word I will. I will see to this data later then." Ozpin said back

"Then I guess we have a deal then." Walker shook Ozpin's hand in a firm grip.

"Then welcome to Beacon. Team RWBY please take back to your dorm room for the night and seeing as to how you all practically led this mission you can have the day off. Goodnight." Ozpin said as they left for the elevator.

"Goodnight Headmaster." the girls replied back before the elevator doors closed.

* * *

The trip back to the dorm room was silent. While the girls talked among themselves Walker took in his surroundings _'This place_ _reminds me of the inside of Azura after the war... I hope everybody is doing okay without me.'_ he was then brought out of his thoughts when he and the girls arrived at the dorm he closed the door behind him and took in his surroundings. On the right side was a makeshift bunk bed that was suspended by books which looked like it would fall any moment, the left side wasn't any better being suspended by ropes.

"I just realized something" Ruby said catching the attention of the others.

"What" Weiss asked

"Where's he going to sleep?" Ruby asked

A pregnant silence washed over them before Yang spoke up.

"He could always sleep in the bed with me~" she said seductively while looking at Walker's muscles and trying to cop a feel at one of them before she found herself at the edge of serrated edge combat knife. She looked up only to gulp as she could tell he was not one to be touched when not necessary.

"Touch me and your dead." he growled

Yang just backed off in slight fear of pissing of the man that made a beowolf's head explode with his fist.

"I'll sleep on the floor." he said before setting his weapon bag down and laying on the floor.

"Um... aren't you uncomfortable?" Blake asked seeing as to how he never took off his chest plate.

"I'll live, I've slept in worse conditions than this." he replied

"At least take off your armor and get comfortable." said Ruby, he sighed knowing that the girl won't stop pestering him until he does. As he takes his armor off the girls get to see what he has underneath, an tank top with old dry blood on it and sweat. After he removes his tank top he throws it out of the window. While his back is to the window the girls gaze at his muscular build with his chest, back, and arms adorned with scars from various battles. The girls' faces light up like a Christmas tree at seeing such a well toned man. As he walks back to his spot on the floor he notices that they're staring at him with questioning looks.

"I can tell you all have questions so go ahead and spit em out." he said

"How did you get all those scars?" Blake asked first seeing that some of those scars actually looked lethal.

"From the various people and ...things on Sera. Next." he said simply.

"Where is Sera because it's not on anywhere on the map of Remnant." Weiss stated. No matter how many times she looked Sera wasn't on any records or maps.

"That's because Sera isn't on Remnant. It's an entirely different planet. Call me crazy, stupid, or weird I don't give a shit." he said simply shocking the other occupants of the room.

"Sooo... You're like an alien then?" Ruby asked somewhat excited.

"Eh, I guess you could say that whatever keeps you up a night kid." he chuckled at the sight of Ruby's blushing face pouting at being called a kid.

"I'm not a kid. I drink milk." she huffed then smiled that they were having a conversation.

"How good at fighting are you?" Yang said somewhat excited knowing that this guy is probably a good fighter with all the scars he had on his body as proof.

"I ranked number one in a CQB tournament and managed to beat my commanding officer who was a CQB expert, so I guess I'm pretty good at fighting." he shrugged thinking that she could beat him. Until you beat a hunter elite in hand to hand combat and come out unscathed you don't know what real combat is.

"What is that one long weapon that you brought out on the ship called?" Ruby asked seeing as to how he never really explained what it was.

"It's called a one shot." he said, knowing she wanted to continue to talk about his weapons.

"Why?" Blake asked wanting to know what was so special about this weapon, personally it looked like an massive sniper.

"This thing is capable of firing a nine inch full metal jacket tungsten round at 325 miles per second ripping the enemy apart before they even have time to take cover properly. It's also capable of punching a hole in a bullet-proof assault vehicle." Walker replied as he looked at the mixed reactions of the girls. Blake's face just had a look of pure shock on it, Weiss turned a shade whiter than its normal pale complexion, Yang had a look of horror on it, and Ruby had a look like she was going to die of how awesome this weapon must be in battle.

"Why would anyone need such a weapon of mass destruction!?" Weiss asked in horror, never in her life had she heard or seen such a devastating weapon and was pretty sure whoever made this was a complete sadist.

"When you're fighting a war-" Walker caught himself before he could say anything else to bring attention to himself. He liked them but they weren't ready for his past.

"That's not even the worst weapon we have." He stated plainly

"WHAT!?" all the girls shrieked at once making him wince at the volume of their voice.

"What could possibly be worse than that!?" screamed Weiss wondering what's worse than what he has in his bag.

"We literally have an orbital laser that can sink an entire city in fifteen minutes or less." he stated without much emotion in his voice. The girls just stared at him in horror, how violent is this Sera he keeps talking about to where they need and orbital weapon that can sink cities.

"Is there any other reason why you always wear that helmet?" Ruby asked innocently, almost making him say the true reason for wearing the helmet.

"Not really." He answered. Ruby just sighed she really wanted to see what he looked like underneath.

"Blake?" He asked, surprising said girl with the sudden mention of her name.

"Yes?" she answered back wondering what he wanted.

"You really shouldn't wear that bow so much" he said to her making the other teammates look at him wondering what he was planning.

"And why is that?" she asked a little nervous that he may have found out about her.

"...It really restricts the circulation of those second set of ears you have on your head." he said. All went quiet after he said that statement, Blake was shocked beyond belief because someone figured her out so quickly and in a couple of hours no less. No one dared to move or speak as they came out of their stupor.

"How did you find out?" Blake asked in a quiet voice hoping he wasn't one who hated faunus and or made fun of them for being different.

"I'm pretty sure bows don't twitch every few seconds when a they hear a sound. No point in hiding it from me since I already know your secret." he answered her. Blake was hesitant but eventually removed the bow from her head and let her cat ears get some circulation back into her ears.

"So?" she asked

"So what?" he asked back confused as to what she was asking about.

"What do you mean so what? You're not going to make fun of me, curse at me, spit on me and what not?" she asked to see if he was another racist piece of shit.

"...No not really." he answered stoically

"W-what" she asked puzzled

"Are you comfortable with being what you are?" he asked her

"Y-yes" she stuttered back.

"Then who the hell am I to judge, if you love being what you are then embrace it. People will only get you down if you let them. Plus they actually make you look kind of cute, not gonna lie some of the people on Sera would have fought each other to get a chance at a date with you." he said warmly.

Blake face turned a shade of red that would put Ruby's cloak to shame in color comparison and covered herself in the sheet to avoid the gazes of her teammates and Walker. Yang grinned at the new content she could harass Blake with from now on, Weiss fumed on the inside that he hadn't said anything like that to her yet, and ruby giggled at the whole situation before her gaze fell on Walker who stared right back at her she was about to say something until he interrupted her.

"Ruby I will let you test my weapons if you go to sleep." he said knowing she wanted to ask that, as soon as those words left his mouth Ruby hightailed it to her bed and tried to fall asleep as fast as possible. His gaze fell on Weiss who stared right back before he said,

"If you go to sleep snow angle I will discuss my business with all of you in the morning, you all seem pretty trust worthy." he told her with a warmth that could melt her icy heart down to the core. Weiss blushed immensely and turned towards her bed falling asleep soon after. His gaze finally fell on Yang, who stared at him seductively "I will personally fight you if you stop looking at me like I'm a slab of meat." he said but before he could fall asleep Yang asked the final question of the night

"How old are you?" she asked him.

"If I tell you will you leave me alone?" he asked

"Yes" she said

"...I'm 17 now go to sleep or I'll cut your hair with my knife and choke you with it." he threatened

"hehehe... You wouldn't really do that would you?" she asked in slight fear.

"Stay up and you'll see the results." he chuckled menacingly while getting out his combat knife. Taking this opportunity to go the sleep Yang bolted for her bed and tried to go to sleep as fast as possible. Walker just chuckled at the sigh before thinking _'I died, got accepted into a school, and am sleeping in a room with four beautiful girls... Life couldn't just give me a break huh. Fuck it, I'm tired.'_ he thought as he fell asleep and waiting to see what the future hold for him.

* * *

 **Well Holy shit on a fucking compass that took forever. This is my first ever fanfic and I hoped you enjoyed it positive comments are most welcome and asshole comments can... how do I say this shoo? Dunno Chapter 2 might be pumped out next weekend so stay tuned. TheManThatWalksTheAbyss115 Peace.** ***Jumps out second story window***


	2. Chapter 2: Entrance Exam

**AN: So a lot of people seem to like my Evolve and RWBY better than this and I'm thankful for it, but since this is my first story I'm not just going to abandon this to put all my time in that. So anyway thank you few for reading this story and waiting for it, the first chapter seemed rushed and that was because I had little to no experience on this site and was still learning. Now that a have at least a basic grasp of how this site operates and a little bit more writing experience I can do more with this story. In other words thank you Digital Ph33rFan for giving me positive encouragement through a review and thank you those who read it in general, so without further adieu let's roll on with the story.**

* * *

Sunshine bled through the open window of team RWBY's dorm room drawing in a comfortable vibe to it. This type of sunshine was usually the kind that woke anyone up happy... except for one person in the room.

"Ugh, what the fuck?!" Walker groaned as the bane of his sleep woke him up, "It's what, nine in the morning and the sun is shining like this fuck my life." He groaned while stretching.

"GOOD MORNING WALKER!" Ruby shouted from her top bunk.

"Ahhhhhhhhh! What the fuck?!" screamed Walker as he whipped around to face Ruby, "Ruby why are you excited this early in the morning?" he asked.

"You said that we could test fire the weapons this morning, so I set an alarm to wake up early so we can test fire them all day!" Ruby said with excitement in her voice. Walker raised an eyebrow at her antics before chuckling and putting on a spare tank top.

"Ruby maybe later today, okay?" He asked.

"Ugh, fine." Ruby mumbled before smiling again, "So what do you want to do first Yang went to the gym, Weiss is eating breakfast, and Blake is most likely in the library." she said.

Walker rubbed the bottom part of his helmet and hummed. The gym sounded fun but he didn't feel like doing anything there so that was out of the question, the library probably had a good book or two but he didn't feel like reading, and breakfast sounded pretty good right now so he made his choice.

"Let's go get something to eat because I'm hungry as shit." He said and started to walk towards the door until he heard a cough that grabbed his attention. Turning around he saw Ruby with a jar in her hand and an expecting look on her face, he stared at the jar in confusion.

"What's that?" He asked.

"Swear jar." Ruby she said in a matter of fact tone.

"Come again." He asked.

"It's a swear jar, you have to put money in the jar since you cursed." She replied. Walker stared at the jar for a few seconds before he burst out laughing.

"Ahahahahahaha! That's the funniest thing I've heard all morning." Walker laughed before he looked at Ruby who still held the jar in front of her, "Oh... You weren't kidding were you?" He asked.

"No I wasn't. Now put some money in the jar." She demanded with a scowl.

"...Fine." Walker grumbled digging in his right pocket and stuck a twenty dollar bill in there.

"What is this?" Ruby asked looking at the piece of paper.

"It's money." Walker deadpanned.

"You don't have any lien?" She asked.

"...What?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Lien. You know money that everybody here uses." Ruby explained.

"No I don't, look are you going to take the money or are we going to stay here and argue all fucking day?" He asked.

"*gasp* You swore again!" Ruby shouted while shoving the jar in his face.

"You know what, fuck this." Walker cursed and walked out the door but not before hearing a 'hey' from Ruby. As she caught up with him the two made their way to the cafeteria, as they walked in they saw Weiss sitting alone at a table eating some yogurt but on closer inspection it looked like she was nodding off to sleep. A mischievous smile formed on Walker's face at the thought of waking up the sleepy heiress. Creeping over to her form and going behind her and placing his hands on her hips he whispered in her ear.

"Hey there sleeping beauty, if I give you a kiss will you wake up?" He asked in her ear. Weiss bolted upright and screamed loudly which echoed through the lunchroom.

"Y-you b-big brute! W-why would you do something l-like that?" Weiss screamed with a red face as she glared at Walker who had a cheeky grin behind his helmet.

"Well, you were nodding off and we saw you when we came in for breakfast so I decided 'hey, why not make this day somewhat enjoyable?' so that's why I decided to do that." he answered truthfully. Weiss just huffed in annoyance and began to eat her yogurt again, Walker just took this as a sign to get something to eat.

"Hey Ruby where can we get some food?" He asked.

"Oh! It's this way." Ruby said while walking towards food. As they arrived at the menu Walker couldn't help but stare at the selection that was displayed, so much to choose from it was almost madness. After a few minutes of deciding he picked up four plates of food: a plate that had eggs, bacon, sausages, and oranges. A bowl of oatmeal. A plate that had pancakes. Finally a plate that had a breakfast burrito. As he came out with the food Ruby stared wide eyed at how much he was going to eat.

"You're not going to eat all that are you?" She asked with an open jaw.

"Hell yeah I am. Ruby I've never eaten this much before." He said as he walked past her leaving her a bit confused at what he said. The two made their way back to the table and Walker set the four plates making Weiss look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"...What?" Walker asked.

"You're seriously going to eat _all_ of that?" She asked him.

"As I told Ruby over here, yes I'm going to eat all of it." Walker replied back.

"I seriously doubt that you can eat all of it." Weiss said filing her nails.

"Oh yeah? How much you want to bet I can?" Walker challenged.

"If you can eat all of that I will give you a thousand lien." She said

"Yeah! And I'll give you my cookie stash!" Ruby shouted in triumph.

"Alright you guys picked your poison." Walker said before slightly lifting his helmet and eating the food.

* * *

 **15 minutes later:**

"How is this even possible?" Weiss said with an open jaw, Walker just burped in response.

"I just lost a thousand lien." Weiss cried while slamming her head on the table.

"M-my cookie stash!" Ruby cried too as she hugged Weiss who hugged her back. Walker just stared at the two in amusement as he started gathering up the dishes to take them back.

"Hey you guys didn't have to take the bet, so in reality it's your guys' fault." He laughed as they glared at him, "Anyways let's get out of here." Walker chuckled as he walked out of the lunchroom. Weiss and Ruby quickly caught up as the three made their way to the library to go see what kind of books they had.

"I didn't know you liked books." Weiss said as she stood to the left of Walker.

"Yeah I do." He replied back, "Oh because I'm a soldier you think I don't know shit." Walker joked.

"What? No! That's not what I meant at all!" She quickly tried to explain.

"Calm down I'm just joking and Ruby you better get that thing away from me." Walker warned as Ruby pouted and put the jar away. The three entered the library and Walker whistled before he heard a 'shhhh' from the few occupants in the room which made him curse under his breath. Ruby and Weiss went over to an isle to browse some books while Walker looked around for Blake, he quickly spotted Blake reading a book by herself and decided to have a conversation with her.

"Whatcha got there?" He asked while leaning over her shoulder making her jump in surprise.

"Oh! Walker I didn't see you come in." Blake said while setting her book down.

"That's probably because you were nose deep in that book of yours." He replied with a little bit of humor in his voice.

"Yeah well it's a pretty good book." She replied before turning back to her book.

"There any good books here?" Walker asked while looking at some on the shelf.

"Depends on what you're looking for." Blake said from her seat.

"I'm looking for the more... philosophical type." Walker said drawing a look of surprise from Blake.

"Oh...wow. I um... really didn't expect you to say that." She said in a shocked voice.

"Why?" He asked as he looked back at her.

"You just seem like the kind of guy that doesn't read those kind of books..." She trailed off while rubbing the back of her neck.

"Well yeah I do as a matter of fact." Walker said.

"I don't think we have those here." Blake said while coming out of her stupor.

"What kind of library doesn't have any philosophical books?" He asked.

"Not this library apparently, may I suggest another type?" She asked.

"Sure what do you have in mind? It had better not be an erotica like the one you read." Walker said as he sat down. Blake blushed a bright red at the accusation.

"W-what me? No... I would never-" She said but was interrupted by Walker.

"Blake don't lie to me, I know you read it when no one is looking or when everybody is asleep." Walker claimed as Blake receded further behind her book with a burning face, "Look I'm not dogging you out or anything just don't give me a book that's sexual or anything." He said.

"How did you know it was an erotica?" She whispered with a red face.

"Pretty sure some books don't have sex scenes that last an entire chapter or two so I kind of figured it out then." He replied while twiddling his thumbs. He then looked back at her and noticed she had her face buried in her book in embarrassment, he sighed before grabbing the book from her.

"Hey give that back!" She demanded while reaching for the book.

"No can do kitty-cat, it's a damn good day outside and you're not staying cooped up in this place." He said while keeping the book out of reach.

"I can and I will. There's nothing you can do to stop me." Blake said hotly. Walker just raised an eyebrow and stared at her for a few seconds before a smile formed on his face.

* * *

"Put me down!" Blake shouted from Walker's right shoulder as Blake, Ruby, Weiss and him walked towards the gym.

"No can do kitty-cat, like I said before it's a good day outside and you wanted to spend it all inside reading a book. That's a no go." Walker replied while continuing to walk towards the gymnasium.

"This is embarrassing! I can walk on my own so put me down now!" She screamed with a red face.

"Why so you can run in the library? Nope." Walker chuckled.

"Why aren't you two doing anything!?" Blake shouted as she looked at Ruby and Weiss.

"Well we would help you buuuut this is actually pretty funny to watch." Ruby giggled.

"Plus he said he would let us revoke our bets if we didn't do anything." Weiss added. Blake's head just slumped down as she waited for Walker to get to the gym and set her down so she could pummel him to death. The four entered the gym and saw that no one was in there except for yang who was currently doing a combination of punches and kicks on the punching bag in front of her. Walker noticed that Blake stopped struggling and saw that she was reading her book. Yang finally noticed them and laughed when she saw Blake over Walker's shoulder.

"What's up guys?" She asked as she wiped her face with towel.

"Oh nothing, besides Blake here over my shoulder." Walker replied nonchalantly only to wince in pain as Blake kneed him in the stomach drawing a giggle from the three girls.

"Any reason why you're carrying her over your shoulder?" Yang asked with a grin.

"She wanted to stay in the library and read the whole day instead of being outside." Walker replied.

"Well that does sound like Blake." Yang mused drawing a hiss from Blake, "What? You know it's true." Yang said.

"Plus Ruby over here wants to see my weapons." Walker said drawing a small gasp from Ruby.

"Alright, I was pretty much done here anyways." Yang said throwing the towel on the bench.

The five left the gym and headed for the shooting range they encountered headmaster Ozpin who merely chuckled at the site of Walker holding Blake.

"Good afternoon children." He said.

"Good afternoon headmaster." The girls replied

"Hey." Walker just plainly said.

"I take it you girls are enjoying your day off?" Ozpin asked.

"Yeah it's pretty relaxing, to be honest I think it's just what we needed." Ruby replied politely.

"Well I must inform you all that Mr. Walker has initiation in a few hours." Ozpin informed.

"Whoa hold up, Initiation? Why wasn't I informed of this last night?" Walker asked the headmaster.

"My apologies Mr. Walker it had slipped my mind, but I can assure you that it would be no trouble for you." Ozpin replied while sipping his mug.

"Uh-huh. So what am I supposed to be doing for this initiation?" Walker asked.

"I'm afraid that will have to wait till you begin, until further notice do have a good afternoon. Oh and Mr. Walker please come to my office later on tonight I have a matter I want to discuss to you about." Ozpin said before walking back to his office.

"What was that about?" Weiss asked.

"I don't know and I don't really care but let's go to the shooting range." Walker said which made Ruby cheer.

* * *

The five entered the shooting range and Walker went up to one of the booths, he was about to grab his weapon but forgot that they were back in the room.

"Ah fuck, I forgot them back in the room. Well looks like we have to make a-" He was interrupted when Ruby suddenly bolted out of the range only to come back thirty seconds later with the bag in her hands and dropped it on the floor.

"Here's *huff* your *huff* bag. *huff*." She said out of breath.

"When did you... You know what, never mind. Thank you." He said as he started getting all the weapons out. As he was getting the weapons out the girls peered over his shoulder and stared at the weapons with mixed expressions; Ruby stared at the weapons with stars in her eyes, Weiss slightly turned a shade paler, Blake stared a bit wide eyed, and Yang stared at the weapons with some excitement.

"So which one did you all want to try out first?" He asked as he checked the clip of the lance before he slammed it back in.

"I want to try this one!" Ruby said as she lifted up the torque bow.

"Hehehe, Alright toque bow it is. Now Ruby make sure you hold the trigger down because it charges up, once you have it fully charged it should stick to the target when you fire it." Walker explained.

"Okay got it." She said as a practice dummy came up from down the range. Ruby carefully aimed the bow at the dummy and let it charge up, once it was charged up she let go of the trigger making the bolt soar through the air and stick to the dummy but didn't do anything for a few seconds.

"Aww I thought that it was going to-" Ruby was interrupted when the bolt suddenly exploded making the dummy scatter into many pieces. Ruby stared wide eyed at the weapon and then looked back at her teammates who also stared wide eyed at the weapon before them; she was about to fire another shot but Walker grabbed the weapon from her making her groan.

"Alright who wants to fire the next weapon?" He asked the other three as they raised their hands but Yang raised it the fastest.

"Me!" Yang shouted as she raised her hand making Walker laugh at her enthusiasm.

"Alright, what do you want to fire?" He asked her.

"Hmmm, do you have a shotgun?" She asked.

"As a matter of fact I do." He said as he picked up the Gnasher shotgun that had a custom skin on it and handed it to Yang.

"Uhhhh, Why's it moving like that?" She asked.

"It's a custom skin." Walker explained. The Gnasher had a white and blue water like effect to it when it was moved around drawing looks of wonder from the girls.

"Oh. Well alright." Yang said as she aimed the shotgun at another dummy and pulled the trigger; making the dummy burst open. Yang whistled at the power of this thing.

"Holy crap! This thing has some fire power, what kind of dust do you use?" She asked.

"What's that?" He asked. The four girls just looked at the man in surprise at his knowledge of dust, pretty much everybody on Remnant knows about it.

"How could you not know about it? It's the main resource on Remnant." Weiss explained.

"Hey I just got here... what, last night? So excuse me for not knowing what 'Dust' is." Walker shot back.

"Oh yeah... I forgot about that. Sorry." She apologized. Walker just sighed while shaking his head before turning back to his weapons.

"Alright who's next?" He asked and Weiss raised her hand.

"Alright snowflake what's got your attention?" He asked as Weiss blushed at the nickname.

"I think this one does." She said as she picked up the retro lancer.

"Oh hold up. I think it's empty, Ruby can you hand me a spare clip?" Walker asked.

"Yeah sure... Uhhh which one is it?" Ruby asked confused.

"The one that looks like a rectangle." He explained

"Oh! Found it!" She cheered as she gave Walker the spare magazine and he reloaded the retro lancer and handed it back to Weiss. Weiss then aimed the lancer at the dummy and let loose a volley of rounds that tore the dummy to shreds before it fell on the ground in a torn heap.

"Well, this certainly is an interesting weapon. I'm sure Atlas would love to see these weapons." Weiss said.

"Is Atlas the military power here?" Walker asked.

"Yes it is." Weiss replied.

"Then no." Walker said quickly.

"Why not?" She asked.

"Because I don't trust any other military power with these weapons other than the COG." Walker replied back.

"But it would help out a lo-" Weiss was interrupted by Walker.

"Next! Blake you're up, what do you want to try out?" He asked as Weiss just growled.

"Hmmm, How about the pistol?" She asked.

"Which one?" Walker asked back.

"The bigger one that you favor more." Blake replied.

"The Boltok? Are you sure you want to try that and not the snub?" He asked with a raised eyebrow behind his helmet.

"Yes I'm sure. What's so bad about it?" She asked.

"Alright you can try it but I will warn you. It does have a lot of recoil so you might want to have a good grip on it." He warned as he handed Blake the Boltok pistol; she couldn't help but notice how heavy the pistol was. Blake took aim with the pistol and fired a single shot at the dummy's head making it explode and making her lose her grip the pistol and throw it behind her. Walker quickly caught the pistol and began twirling it on his finger before holstering it on his hip; while Blake was busy nursing her wrist.

"Hey, I told you to be careful." He said.

"I WAS being careful." Blake said as she continued to nurse her wrist.

"Not careful enough apparently." He chuckled earning a glare from Blake and then the intercom came on.

 _"Will students and staff please report to the amphitheater."_ It said before cutting off.

"Well looks like my time is up. I'll see you guys later." Walker said grabbing his weapons and walking out.

"Where are you going?" Ruby asked.

"I'm guessing I'm going through this initiation that is so talked about." He explained making Ruby's eyes go wide.

"Oh my Oum! Guys we need to get to the amphitheater!" Ruby shouted as she bolted out the door followed by the rest of the team. Walker just headed back to the room to put the rest of the weapons away and get his armor before heading to the cliff side.

* * *

 **In the amphitheater:**

Glynda and the rest of the staff entered the amphitheater and stood up on the stage while the rest of the students were piling in.

"Good afternoon students. Today we will be observing a new student that has arrived last night under certain circumstances. Now please refrain from talking during this student's initiation." Glynda stated as she took a seat.

The students murmured among themselves about the new student that supposedly arrived last night. Students stopped their side conversations as the screen displayed Ozpin talking to a person in a helmet and a big body armor, from first glance students thought he was an soldier from Atlas but noticed he didn't have any symbols or anything.

"So how do you think he's going to do?" Whispered Ruby.

"To be honest, I think he's going to do alright considering how he handled himself in the forest last night." Replied Weiss as she filed her nails.

"Are you kidding me Weiss? He's going to kick ass with all those weapons he has." Yang said.

"Yang he only brought four, but I do think he'll do well." Blake said while reading her book.

"Look at the four he brought! He'll probably tear up half the forest!" Ruby whisper yelled.

"Quiet you dolt. They're talking." Weiss said.

* * *

 **Cliff side:**

"Are you ready for you're initiation Mr. Walker?" Ozpin asked sipping his mug.

"No, not really. But hey who am I to complain." Walker shrugged.

"Hehehe alright... During this initiation you will need to make your way to the ruins North of here, from then you will grab a relic and make your way back to the cliff side. Oh, and make sure to destroy anything in your way or you will die." Ozpin explained seriously.

"Well that's reassuring." Walker joked, "But remember if I go here and do what you want me to do I expect you to hold up your end of the deal." He said in a serious voice.

"Of course I will. Good luck Mr. Walker." Ozpin smiled.

"Luck doesn't get results. Luck can sometimes lead to arrogance and arrogance leads to one's downfall." Walker chuckled mirthlessly before being shot up in the air at high speeds.

* * *

"Owwwwwww." Walker groaned as he lifted himself off the ground, to be honest he wasn't expecting to be shot through the air like a mortar. The first thing he noticed was that his right shoulder was dislocated since his right arm was hanging lower than his left, deciding to fix it now or have future problems he slowly grabbed his right forearm and took a few deep breaths before he quickly pushed his arm up and setting his shoulder back in place. A loud snap was heard as he put it back in place and rotated it a few times to make sure, he quickly went over to his weapons and checked them for any damage and thankfully there wasn't anything out of place... other than the blood splattered on the chainsaw teeth of the Lancer. Walker grabbed the Boomshot and placed it on the magnetic strip on his back and then grabbed his Boltok pistol and placed it on the back of his hip. He then placed the Lancer on his right side magnetic strip to pick up the One Shot that was laying a few feet away from him, after picking up the One Shot with some discomfort (since his shoulder is slightly injured) he began to walk North towards the ruins.

The next several minutes were quiet with the exception of Walker's boots hitting the soft soil beneath him until he heard growling. He looked around and saw a pair of red eyes glaring at him through the bushes, he just stared back at them before he suddenly rolled to his right dropping his One Shot and pulling out his Lancer and aimed it at the wolves. The wolf in the bushes charged out and lunged at Walker who responded by kicking it in the snout dazing it and then revved up his chainsaw before he brought it down on the wolf's right shoulder and cutting down diagonally until he sawed the wolf in half. The other wolf tried to charge at Walker from behind but he threw himself to the left and shot it in the legs crippling it; he then kicked the wolf in the stomach and shoved his Lancer in its stomach before he revved it up making the wolf writhe around in agony as its insides were turned to mush. He then turned the chainsaw off and yanked it out and stared at the Beowolf in front of him.

"Fucking mutt." He muttered as he placed the Lancer on his back and picked up the One Shot off the ground before making his way towards the ruins, but not before noticing the camera in the tree and gave it the finger as he walked off.

* * *

"Fucking mutt" The students heard Walker swear then laughed as he flipped off the camera while the teachers shook their heads disappointed at the young man's antics. Glynda fumed at the young man's course of language and decided while she and Ozpin talked to him later tonight.

"Damn, that was brutal." Yang commented as she watched Walker kill that Beowolf.

"Yeah it was. Glad I'm not on his bad side." Blake agreed.

"Does anyone notice how he seemed to know that there were cameras?" Weiss asked drawing looks from the others, "Nobody told him about the initiation and what's in the forest, yet somehow he knows." She said.

"Maybe he's super perceptive?" Ruby asked hopefully.

"Maybe... but let's keep watching." Weiss said as she looked forward and saw he was facing an Ursa.

* * *

An Ursa came out of the bush and spotted Walker before roaring at him. Walker just stared at the Ursa and equipped the Boomshot and fired at the grimm; noticing that the grimm didn't go down he fired another shot, this time at its legs blowing both of them off and the Ursa roared in pain as blood shot out of its wounds like a geyser. While the Ursa was on the ground it looked up to see the glowing eyes of its executioner; as it looked at Walker it felt a pain resonate throughout its head. Walker slammed the Boomshot on the Ursa's head horizontally then flip the weapon so it was vertical then slammed it on the Ursa's head with more force making it explode like a balloon... a balloon made of blood, skull fragments, and brain matter.

"Eww got some on me." He said as he wiped the gore off his chest plate. He continued forward and eventually found the ruins; at the ruins he found the relic he was supposed to grab. Walking up to the relic and picking it up he stopped for a second and examined it.

"A chess piece... Are you fucking kidding me?" He deadpanned, "I risked my life for a FUCKING CHESS PIECE?!" Walker screamed which echoed throughout the ruins. His anger had attracted a large amount of grimm to the area; ranging from Beowolves, Ursa, a Nevermore, and even a Deathstalker; Walker was busy ranting he didn't notice the grimm approaching him until a Beowolf bit his armored shoulder. Walker slowly turned his head and glared at the wolf through his helmet before grabbing his combat knife and shoving it in the Beowolf's throat making it let go of him and fall on the ground suffocating on its blood. He then glared at the rest of the grimm before he grabbed the lancer off his back and started mowing down some of them; a Beowolf rushed at him only to have its legs shot out from under it making it land on the ground hard. Walker quickly grabbed it and used it as a meat shield before sticking a frag grenade on it and kicking it into the remainder of the Beowolf pack making them turn into bloody pieces of meat. An Ursa rushed at him and swiped at him only for him to duck under it and activate the chainsaw before sawing the Ursa's right leg off making it fall on its back; Walker then grabbed his combat knife and shoved it into the Ursa's jaw before he stuck his hand in and ripped its jaw right off making a disgusting gurgle as it suffocated.

* * *

"He seems mad." Ruby said a little scared as she watched Walker gut a Beowolf alive.

"Y-yeah... but I mean he should have known that the chess piece was the relic right?" Yang asked.

"Yang he's not from around here remember? I think he thought it was something more important." Blake explained.

"Well that does make sense." Yang said.

"Hey I just noticed something." Weiss stated.

"What?" Ruby asked.

"He doesn't have an aura." Weiss replied drawing looks of shock from the other three.

"Wait how do you know?" Ruby asked worried.

"When he landed did you notice how his shoulder dislocated?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah, your point?" Yang asked.

"A person's aura should have prevented that from happening. So there are only two possibilities. One, he either never had an aura to begin with or two, he has a very weak one; I'm guessing since he's not from around here it's the former." Weiss explained. The four girls looked back at the screen with a worried expression hoping that Walker would be okay.

* * *

Walker ducked under a swipe from another Beowolf and grabbed its snout and the back of its head before giving a savage twist, breaking its neck. Another Beowolf lunged at Walker and knocked him to the ground, it tried to bite his throat before Walker headbutted it dazing it; He then grabbed its mouth and stretched it open. The Beowolf thrashed around as its mouth was being stretched and eventually the lower jaw was ripped off, as it gurgled on it blood Walker stuck his hand down its throat and ripped out its tongue before kicking it away. Walker quickly picked up his Lancer and fired it at the remainder of the pack; flesh and bone was torn to shreds as the bullets entered their bodies before they quickly fell to the ground in a bloody heap. Walker took this little breathing room to catch a breath and reload before setting off towards the cliff.

The ground began to shake as a Deathstalker charged towards Walker, who dodged at the last second. Walker glared at the bug as it crashed into a large boulder turning it into smaller rocks.

"Oh so some giant bug wants a piece of me too?! I've faced Fido and Winnie the Pooh, so let's see what you got you raggedy little fucker!" Walker shouted at the top of his lungs with his arms stretched out wide. The Deathstalker screeched and charged at Walker who dodged to the left and picked up the One Shot and aimed it at the Deathstalker; only to drop the large gun and roll to the right as a stinger landed in the spot he was at. Walker growled as he kept dodging attack after attack from the large grimm; Walker equipped an ink grenade and waited for the right moment to throw it. The Deathstalker screeched again and Walker took this chance to throw the grenade into its mouth. The grenade exploded releasing the toxic ink in the giant grimm's mouth making it choke and spit; Walker took this chance to grab his One Shot and aim it at the grimm. Looking through the scope and hearing the beep signifying that it was ready to be fired Walker pulled the trigger; a loud crack was emitted throughout the forest scaring birds in the distance. The One Shot bullet soared through the air at high speeds and ripped through the Deathstalker's armor and body coming out the other side and embedding itself in a nearby rock. The Deathstalker stood for a moment longer before collapsing on the ground and disintegrated in a cloud of black smoke.

"Well... that was fun." Walker breathed while putting his hands on his knees before reloading the One Shot. He then heard growls behind him and saw two three Beowolf alphas behind him; Walker just sighed and cracked his knuckles as he marched towards them.

"Woof Woof motherfuckers. " He chuckled darkly.

* * *

To say the students and staff at the amphitheater were shocked would be an understatement. They all stared slack jawed at what one of Walker's weapons did to a Deathstalker. It killed one of the most dangerous grimm types out there in. A. Single. Shot.

"That. Was. Awesome!" Ruby shouted/whispered.

"Are kidding me Ruby?! That thing is weapon of mass destruction!" Weiss said with wide eyes.

"I know! I wonder if he has blueprints for them? Do you think he would let me see them?! Ohhhhhh, I really hope he has blueprints for them! I wonder if he'll let me fire it one day? Do you guys think he'd let me use it in battle?!" Ruby fired nonstop questions at her teammates before Weiss calmed her down... with a slap on the back of the head.

"Ruby! Calm down! I'm pretty sure he would let you do all those things if you didn't act like this." Weiss berated as Ruby rubbed the back of her head.

"Yeah sis he probably would... just make sure none of us are near when he agrees." Yang said as the others quickly agreed.

"Why not?" Ruby asked.

"Ruby, that thing in his hands is a literal demon. I for one do not want to be near it when he is either using it with us or against us." Yang explained.

"U-um guys?" Blake tried as she stared at the screen with wide eyes.

"You guys come on. It's not even that bad." Ruby said.

"Ruby that thing is a beast and not in a good way." Weiss said.

"I have to agree with Weiss for once, that thing is too dangerous." Yang agreed.

"G-guys?" Blake tried again only a little louder to get their attention.

"I really don't see why you guys are scared of a weapon like that." Ruby said trying to see why her teammates are scared of a simple weapon.

"Ruby imagine what that thing can do if it was in the wrong hands." Weiss reasoned.

"Guys!" Blake whisper/yelled catching their attention.

"What?!" the three girls turned to look at her.

"Look" Blake said while pointing a finger at the screen. The three girls turned to look at the screen and suddenly turned green at the sight.

* * *

Walker was choking one of the Beowolf alphas with another Beowolf's intestines and the third Beowolf lay on the ground with its limbs broken. The first Beowolf whimpered as it felt its intestines being pulled out as it tried to stuff them back in, as it was starting to lose consciousness a boot impacted its face making it wake up again.

"Stay awake pup! I'm not done with you yet!" Walker said in a psychotic glee like voice as the Beowolf that he was choking suddenly went limp; Walker looked to see that its neck was at an awkward and the spine was sticking out. Walker sighed as he tossed the corpse down and looked down at the first Beowolf as it tried stuffing its intestines back in, only to fail in the end. The Beowolf looked up to see a figure covered from head to toe in blood and gore from the various grimm it had slain; the Beowolf suddenly looked up only to see a combat boot coming towards its face before its whole world went black.

The final Beowolf tried to move only to yelp in pain as its legs and arms were broken; it suddenly heard shuffling behind it and began to panic. A pair of combat boots entered its vision and it struggled to look up before a pair of hands helped it; it saw the demon that slaughtered its pack in less than an hour. The Beowolf opened its mouth to howl for help only for a vice like grip to clamp its snout shut.

"Shh. Shh. Shhhhh. Now we wouldn't want the rest of your family to see your death now would we?" Walker asked in an unsettling happy tone. The Beowolf began to panic as Walker slowly walked around it humming to himself before stopping at it's left arm. "You know what? I think I'll let you live. But not before giving you something to remind you of me." He stated happily before he grabbed the Alpha's left arm and pulling making it howl in pain as the arm slowly tore from the socket. Walker began to savagely beat the Alpha with its own arm making pained howls come out of it; eventually those howls turned into whimpers and then the whimpers turned to silence as its voice was to weak to make a sound. Just as the pain was about to continue it suddenly stopped making the Alpha look up and see its arm hit it in the face; it looked to see Walker making his way towards it and leaning in its towards

"Well that was fun but I have places to be, things to kill, people to talk to and what not. Let this be a message to you and your pack," he said simply before grabbing its face, **"** **I'm the alpha around these parts.** **"** he said in a dark menacing tone. And with that he made his way back to Beacon.

* * *

The students shook in their seats in terror as they watched the new kid brutally kill two alphas and scar the last one. The staff were shocked that the new student was able to scare the grimm to such a degree. Glynda stared wide eyed at Walker while slightly shaking in her seat, she just witnessed someone who wasn't even twenty kill two A-class grimm with little to no effort and mentally scar the last one.

"U-u-m g-guys d-does any o-one want to t-try to f-fight Walker in combat class?" Ruby asked in a terrified voice.

"N-no... I-I don't think I want that fight he promised me anymore." Yang said scared.

"I-I think it's better to f-forfeit when we're fighting him in combat class." Blake said slowly losing her cool composure. Everybody turned when they heard a thump and saw that Weiss had fainted. Just as they were about to wake her up the entrance doors suddenly swung open revealing a blood soaked figure; everybody froze in their seats as Walker walked by them and up to the stage where the staff looked at the young man in caution. Walker calmly walked up to Ozpin and reached into his pocket to grab the chess piece which was snapped in half; Ozpin raised and eyebrow before taking the chess piece from Walker's hand which dripped with blood.

"Care to explain why the chess piece is in two pieces Mr. Walker." Ozpin stated as he stared at Walker who stared at him before replying.

"Oh that? Consider it payback since you sent me in a monster filled forest to get a fucking game piece; which nearly cost me my life mind you." Walker stated plainly as the staff glared at the young man who showed no respect towards the Headmaster.

"To be honest I thought you knew." Ozpin said as he narrowed his eyes.

"Bullshit, you knew I didn't know anything. Yet you still sent me there down there to get a game piece." Walker growled at the older man. The two men stared at each other before the Headmaster sighed and raked his hand through his hair.

"Regardless you got the chess piece and made it back. So welcome to Beacon." Ozpin said as he sipped his mug, "So what team will you join-" Ozpin began.

"Team RWBY." Walker interrupted the Headmaster.

"Are you sure? There are plenty of other teams that need another member." Ozpin tried.

"Yes, one because I don't know anybody else and those four are like the coolest people I know." Walker said.

"Well... I guess it's settled then you will become the co-captain of RWBY." Ozpin stated, "Students this assembly is over you may return to your dorms; have a nice weekend everybody." he said as he went to his office and the rest of the staff went back to their classrooms to pack up for the weekend; eventually every student left the amphitheater except for RWBY. Walker stared at the girls and they stared right back with tiny amounts of fear.

"Are you four ladies just going to stare at me all day or are we going to get a move on?" Walker asked snapping them out of their daze.

"Y-yeah! Let's go team!" Ruby nervously shouted. The trip back to the room was quiet and uncomfortable. As they entered the room Walker just said what was bugging him the whole time.

"Let me guess. You guys are afraid of me." He stated stoically.

"W-what?! Why would we be scared of our oh so grand teammate-" Yang started.

"Don't bullshit me Yang." Walker said straight to the point.

"Well we are a little scared." Ruby said meekly not even trying to be enforce the swear jar rule.

Walker just sighed before sitting down and rubbing his helmet.

"If you all want to trust me then get past this whole I'm scared of my teammate shit." He said

"What? Why wouldn't we be scared of you?" Weiss asked

"Because fearing a teammate leads to trust being broken and let me tell you something trust is the last thing you want to throw away." He said cryptically, "I'm taking a shower." He said as he walked into the bathroom. The girls just mulled in their heads about what he said about trust, the way he said it made it seem like he went through something; dismissing it for a later date the girls got comfortable and prepared for their weekend.

* * *

 **AN: How are all you ladies and gentlemen doing? I'm back with another chapter of this. I know I know this story doesn't seem that great in some people's eyes but you know what I say to those people? Nothing because I can't talk to them. The reason I updated this so late is because I have another story I've been enjoying writing and I've been distracted playing my Xbox one (shitty excuse I know). So anyways remember to give positive reviews and I'll keep this story rolling. Anyways thank you all and have a good one.**


	3. Chapter 3: Little bit of comfort

**AN: Hey everybody, I promised another chapter didn't I? So thank you guys for giving me the positive encouragement to continue this. This is unrelated to this story but there is a matter I must discuss; on my other story I got my first negative review (Yay) and at first I felt really shitty because you know it's my first; but over the course of a few days I started not caring about it. There's this guy who called my story Evolution complete bullshit and at the start I was pissed but then I started thinking it's not complete bullshit, sure there are some flaws in it but it's not absolute bullshit and telling the author to stop making their character the way they are is like telling someone to stop breathing. If I want to make this character the way they are then so be it; it's my fucking story. The dude acts like I've been writing fanfics for years when in truth it's only been _three fucking months_ and I know not everyone will enjoy it. If they don't like the story then they can just leave and never read it again, it's not that hard. Anyways, it's all good though he'll continue to read his hundreds of fanfictions and I'll continue to write these two stories that I enjoy writing. Without further adieu let's get on with it.**

* * *

Walker entered the bathroom and took off his clothes before throwing them to the ground. He then looked in the mirror and slowly took off his helmet before looking back at himself, he then sighed and placed the helmet on the sink and entered the shower. Warm water eased his tense muscles and calmed his nerves making him sigh in relief; he then picked up some soap and began scrubbing himself free from all the dirt and grime from his body. He pondered the last time he actually took a shower and shuddered at the thought of how disgusting he must smell. Deciding to end his shower on a high note he turned the hot water off and left the cold water on making his body tense up, he then turned the water off and stepped out of the shower before picking up his helmet and putting it on. Walking out of the bathroom he noticed the girls doing different activities: Ruby was playing a game with Yang, Weiss was studying, and Blake was reading. Blake was the first one to notice him and sported a pink hue to her cheeks before nodding at him and turning back to her book; he saw on the bookshelf was a box that had his name on it. Walking up to the box and looking inside of it he noticed there was a school uniform, he didn't notice that Ruby and Yang had different expressions on their faces; Yang had a predatory gaze while Ruby's face flushed red and she looked away.

"So Walker, You plan on putting any clothes on?" Yang asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Huh?" He asked then looked down to see he was still in a towel, "Oh shit!" He exclaimed before running in the bathroom. Yang laughed out loud before walking up to the door and knocking.

"Oh come on! It's not that bad. We didn't even see the package yet!" She laughed.

"Yang that's not funny!" Ruby groaned while covering her face.

"Yeah, got to agree with Ruby, Yang that's not funny." Walker said through the door.

"What's so bad about it?" Yang teased.

"Well for one it was indecent of me to walk out pretty much in my birthday suit and two I didn't even acknowledge you four." Walker answered.

"Aww how sweet. You were thinking of us." Yang said teasingly.

"Do you guys know anybody that I can borrow clothes from?" Walker sighed.

"Oh! Maybe Jaune can let you borrow some clothes." Ruby chimed.

"Do you think he'll be okay if I borrow some until I get some more clothes?" Walker asked.

"Yeah he probably will." Ruby said before going out of the room. She came back about a minute later and knocked on the door; a pair of hands grabbed the clothes before closing the door again. Walker came out a minute later in a pair of blue jeans, white socks, and a white t-shirt.

"Damn, how skinny is this dude?" Walker asked while pulling at the shirt's collar. "I don't mean to be a dick or anything, just curious." He added.

"Well...he's not muscular but he's not that skinny. He's more on the lean side." Ruby reasoned.

"Doesn't matter. I just need some new clothes." Walker said.

"We could just go down to Vale." Weiss proposed.

"Where?" Walker asked.

"Vale city. Doesn't ring any bells?" Yang asked.

"I literally got here last night, I don't know anything about this place." Walker answered.

"Oh yeah. Forgot about that." Yang mumbled.

"Well... let's get ready then, the next bullhead leaves in an hour and a half." Blake said as she put her book down and walked towards the bathroom.

* * *

 **One hour later:**

Yang finally stepped out of the room in her usual attire while the rest waited in the hallway.

"So why did you wait in the hallway?" Ruby asked.

"I may be a flirt but I know when to give people their privacy, plus I did it to not look like a pervert." Walker replied while balancing the combat knife on his index finger.

"Well, at least you know some manners." Weiss replied.

"My parents taught me well. If I didn't have any manners then I'd be more of an asshole." Walker said nonchalantly.

"Swear!" Ruby shouted and pulled out the jar.

"Are you kidding me?" Walker deadpanned.

"No she's not." Yang said.

"I don't have any money." Walker said.

"Well find something to pay then." Ruby said with a scowl.

"Hmm." Walker rubbed the bottom side of his helmet before a light bulb appeared in his head. He reached inside of the jar and took out a lien card.

"Hey!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Here you go." He said cheerfully before placing the card back in the jar and looked at a confused Ruby. "Hey, you said I have to put money in the jar. You never said where I had to get it from or who I had to take it from, so technically I just put money in the jar for swearing." He explained. Ruby just turned into a sputtering mess before grumbling angrily and storming past him. He looked back at the rest confused and they just shrugged their shoulders before following her out to the bullhead. On the way to the bullhead they noticed that Ruby was walking faster than them and was making angry noises.

"Is she seriously mad at that?" Walker whispered to Yang.

"Yeah she is, I think it's because she's embarrassed." She whispered back.

"I am not embarrassed!" Ruby shouted making them jump in surprise.

"Whoa! We're just joking little red." Walker said.

"No you're not! And don't call me little red." Ruby said angrily.

"Alright, alright. I won't call you little red... can I call you my little gem stone instead?" He asked. Ruby's face lit up a bright red before she turned and huffed. "Okay... Ruby if I give you my schematics for a Silverback will you let me curse from now on and stop being mad?" He asked. Ruby turned back around with a confused expression.

"What's a Silverback?" She asked.

"Oh nothing... just a militarized version of a power loader. It has two triple barrel chain guns, a built in rocket launcher, and has a shield mode for extra cover." Walker explained while dragging a finger across his knife. Ruby's anger immediately dissipated and she sported an excited expression before squealing in excitement.

"What?! Really?! Where is it?!" She shouted while zooming up to Walker's face making him jump back a bit.

"Okay Ruby, please don't ever do that again." He said.

"Oh sorry...when can I see it?" She asked.

"After we go... clothes shopping." Walker dreaded.

"What's so bad about clothes shopping?" Weiss asked.

"It sounds boring as hell and like a big waste of time." He answered as they entered the bullhead.

"It's not. It's actually really fun." Yang said.

"I call bullshit on that. For one you're lying about it being fun because you look like you hate going shopping in the first place." Walker said.

"Okay I like shopping to an extent." Yang said.

"And that extent is?" He asked.

"Drinking." Blake said for the first time since they entered the bullhead. Walker looked at Yang who had an embarrassed look on her face before laughing, causing her face to turn even more red.

"Shut up!" Yang shouted with a red face.

"I'm sorry, I just thought you would spend more money on clothes than on alcohol." Walker laughed before coughing and looking back at Yang. "It's all good though, I'm not one to judge. So anyway, where are we stopping at first?" He asked.

"For one we're getting you some new clothes then we have to stop by the weapon store for Ruby's new shipment of ammo." Weiss listed off.

"Ugh... great." Walker groaned before sighing and leaning back in his seat, closing his eyes.

* * *

"lker...Walker...Walker!" Somebody shouted making him jolt up and look around before his gaze met Ruby. She looked at him concerned.

"Are you okay?" She asked worryingly.

"Yeah, I'm fine...Why?" He asked while stretching.

"Oh, it's because you're helmet light things went out." She answered.

"That usually happens when I'm asleep. I don't know why though; every other helmet I've worn never did that." He said.

"Well we're in Vale, so come on!" She said excitedly. Popping his back he followed Ruby out of the bullhead and met up with the rest of the team. Traveling the streets of Vale made him appreciate the scenery, something he never really had the luxury of on Sera. They came across a clothes shop called Remnant's clothes shop **(AN: I'm not good with names so piss off)** and went to see what they had for sale. After looking around for a while Walker finally found something that suited his tastes; some dark blue jeans, a load of white T-shirts and tank tops, a black and red hoodie, a pair of combat boots like the ones he had on currently, some socks, and some underwear, **(AN: the most important piece of clothing)**. After he went to the checkout lane and had his clothes paid for, courtesy of Weiss they made their way to the weapon store. On the way there the girls were explaining everything about Remnant they could; from Dust, to faunus, the white fang, the grimm, and etc. By the time they were done explaining everything they had arrived at the dust shop and Ruby immediately went up to the counter and asked for her sniper rounds, to which the store clerk went to the back and grabbed them before giving them to her. They then later got Walker bathroom supplies for future use. After getting everything they needed from Vale the five made their way back to the bullhead and Walker decided to ask Blake more about the white fang.

"So let me get this straight. The white fang used to be full of peaceful protest and boycotts before turning into genocidal terrorists?" Walker asked Blake who nodded.

"Yeah, back when they actually fought for equal rights." Blake whispered in a solemn mood. Noticing her voice drop and her mood take a turn for the worse he lightly punched her shoulder to get her attention.

"Who's to say that fighting for equal rights peacefully still can't happen?" He asked her making her look back at him confused. "You stated earlier that you all gained some rights through fear and intimidation making the people view the faunus community as nothing but terrorist right?" He asked again.

"Yes?" Blake asked.

"Then prove them all wrong Blake, prove to the people that not all faunus are terrorist and savages. Prove to them that you all are people like everybody else; you eat food like everybody else, you sleep like everybody else, you breath like everybody else and you live like everybody else. Blake, prove to the people that faunus are real living beings and not things; make people see them for who they are and not what they are. So you're either one or two things; you're either the one who makes a change in the world or the one who sits by and does nothing about it. Which one are you Blake?" He asked her. Blake was utterly moved by his speech; no one has ever talked about her people in the way that he had. They always spat on them and called them animals for looking different.

"I'm going to be the one who makes a change." She answered with much conviction making Walker smile behind his helmet.

"Atta girl." He said. Before he turned around to enter the bullhead he felt a pair of arms wrap around him and saw Blake hugging him, taken aback by her sudden act of affection he chuckled before hugging her back. The moment was ruined when they heard a picture being taken and turned to see Yang with a goofy smile on her face while holding the scroll up. Ruby was covering her mouth with her hand to stifle a fit of giggles while Weiss had a neutral expression; Blake's face suddenly lit up and she quickly removed herself from Walker. Walker chuckled and entered the bullhead followed by the rest of the girls. The ride back was quiet, so quiet that Walker decided to take another nap but was kept awake when he felt somebody poking his helmet.

"Yes?" He asked.

"Did you really mean what you said outside?" Blake asked.

"Yes... Why would I not?" Walker asked curiously.

"Because a lot of people say that about the faunus community but don't mean it." Blake answered.

"That's usually because a lot of people probably don't face discrimination in their lives." He said. This gained the attention of the girls, giving him a look that made it clear they wanted to know more.

"Back on Sera the Cog faced a lot of discrimination. People would usually say that we're the cause of their problems, say that no matter what we do we would always be at fault." He said.

"What kind of people?" Weiss asked.

"Stranded." Walker answered.

"Stranded?" Ruby asked.

"People who lost a lot and didn't want to join the Cog. They would usually deny our help and spit on us for doing so, saying that none of their problems would have happened if we hadn't did what we did. When we tried to trade they would shut us out, when we tried to ask for assistance they would deny us, when we tried to pass through a gate or sector they would tell us to find another way. Hell, sometimes they would even try to kill us and take our stuff." Walker explained.

"What did you all do to make them hate you so much?" Yang asked. Walker just sighed and shook his head.

"Another time Yang." He said tiredly.

"Why not now?" She asked.

"Because it's a topic I'd rather not discuss." He said and closed his eyes. Yang was about to ask another question but Blake stopped her and shook her head before sitting in her seat and reading her book. Walker closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep with the help of the dull hum of the bullhead.

* * *

Ruby shook Walker to wake him up from his slumber, to which he nodded in thanks before stepping off the bullhead. On the way back to their dorm rooms Walker excused himself from the group saying he needed to speak to Ozpin for a minute. After dismissing himself from them he made his way to the headmaster's office. On his way there he noticed how quiet it was in the hallways.

 _'Wish it was this quiet on the Sovereign sometimes.'_ He thought. While the Sovereign had its quiet moments it was always bustling with activity ranging from friendly conversations to open bar fights... he missed all those moments. He missed his friends; like Kelly, Fred, Amelia, and Nash. He stopped when he thought about Nash; the guy was like an older brother to him, and seeing him get killed by a bunch of polyps almost made him lose it. Nash the one guy that could kill a Reaver with nothing but a snub pistol, the guy who could stare a corpser in the face and laugh, and the guy who would use his own body as a shield for a stranded child about to get shot. He missed him as much as he missed his brother. He would make it back, that much he promised.

He entered the elevator and listened to its tune, humming in the process. When the elevator opened he saw Ozpin sitting in his desk looking at some papers while drinking some coffee while Glynda stood off to the side.

"Oh, Mr. Walker how nice of you to join us." Ozpin smiled lightly.

"Yeah... I was wondering about that way home." Walker said without much emotion in his voice.

"Please understand that a process like that takes time, something like that could take months to years to accomplish." Ozpin stated.

"So you're saying you haven't even started looking for a way back then." Walker asked.

"No we haven't, there are other matters that require my attention right now." Ozpin sighed.

"I see, then I'll take my leave so you can get back to those matters." Walker just said before walking back to the elevator. He was stopped when Glynda put a hand on his shoulder and had a concerned look on her face.

"Are you okay?" She asked. Walker raised an eyebrow behind his helmet.

"Are you genuinely concerned or are you just saying that just to be saying that?" He asked back.

"I'm genuinely concerned." She answered. Walker just stopped for a quick minute.

"No, I'm not. And I don't think I'll ever be." He said before shrugging her hand off his shoulder and entering the elevator.

Glynda looked at the elevator for a minute before walking back to Ozpin's desk and looking at him.

"Should we do something?" Glynda asked.

"No." Ozpin said seriously.

"W-what? Why not?" She asked surprised.

"While I am concerned as you are, he needs time to deal with it all. He had to face a threat worse than the grimm themselves and the 'queen' of his world may or may not be worse than **her**." Ozpin explained. There were some things that bothered him the most, like how the human race on his world is nearly extinct and how someone of his age had to fight for survival everyday instead of living like a normal child. Ozpin only knew that he had only scratched the surface of the data he was watching, he only started a few hours ago. He sighed and rubbed his temples.

He was going to need more coffee for this.

* * *

Walker walked back to the room and knocked on the door, he heard hushed whispers before the door opened revealing Yang in her sleepwear. He walked past her and saw his bag open with Ruby and Weiss staring at him with wide eyes. His mood took a turn for the worse the longer he stared at them; marching over to them he quickly grabbed the items and threw them in the bag before roughly zipping them up. He then marched past them.

"Stay out of my shit." He growled.

"We weren't in it." Weiss said.

"Then why was my bag open with all its contents out? Because the last time I checked, which was this afternoon, it was closed." He replied angrily.

"We-" She started.

"You were what? Being nosy and going through my shit without my consent? Don't get me wrong Weiss, I like you guys but you aren't ready for what's in that bag." He interrupted.

"And what's in the bag?" Ruby asked.

"Something I was going to tell you all in due time but since I caught you guys searching through my stuff without my consent, I don't think I want to tell you." He said.

"Come on Walker, there isn't anything in there that's that bad right?." Yang asked.

"There's shit from the war." He whispered so quietly none of them heard except Blake. She was about to say something but saw that he set the bag down and began to sleep on it. Everyone looked over to Walker before turning in for the night.

* * *

 _Pain...so much pain. His back was on fire and his shoulders burned. He couldn't cry anymore because his tear ducts ran dry; he just wanted it to end. They weren't stopping and he knew it, they had much more planned for him._

 _"P-please stop..." He whimpered._

 _A lash raked across his back making him scream in pain. He thrashed around but stopped when the pain in his shoulders made themselves clear. His breathing became heavy and vision foggy, his head sagged and he coughed out blood when he felt a fist collide with his stomach. He felt a finger slowly trace across his open wounds making him wince; a shadow enveloped him and he could feel something stare at him. Looking up slowly he stared at the figure with foggy vision and focused on it; he could see who it was and it made him panic. The figure bent down to stare him in the face and slowly grazed a finger across his face making him shudder, it laughed sadistically before walking around him. After it walked around him for a minute it stopped when it was behind his right shoulder. He felt a tiny bit of flesh being peeled off and a finger enter the new wound and begin to twist making him cry out in pain._

 _"Ssssuuuffffeeerrr" A voice hissed at him. He looked weakly at the figure as it came to face him again and spat at it._

 _"F-fuck you... Sko-." He said weakly before a fist collided with his face._

* * *

He woke with a gasp and quickly looked around the dark room. Shaking his head to whisk away the nightmare he checked the time and saw that it was six-thirty in the morning.

"Wow...that was uh... one hell of a nightmare..." He said quietly. "Good thing something like that never happened." He lied to himself. He got up and walked to the bathroom, shutting and locking the door he took his helmet off. He looked older than a seventeen year old, and not in the good way. Those dark brown eyes that shown with innocence and happiness were gone, now replaced with hardened cold eyes. His smile that was full of happiness was now replaced with a frown that was forever etched onto his face. His once smooth face now had numerous scars on it, each one had a story to it; not a badass story like he wanted. More of a pitiful sad one that no one deserves. He felt sick to his stomach and quickly made his way to the toilet before vomiting. All the guilt from the years crashed down on him like a freight train. It hurt to say the least, it made him feel like he had ran a thousand miles with no break. He spit the last of the vomit from his mouth before grabbing his toothbrush and brushing all the residue food, germs, and vomit from his mouth. After brushing his teeth he exited the bathroom and walked towards the door but stopped when he heard Blake call after him.

"Walker?" She asked half asleep.

"..." He stood with the door halfway open with a grin plastered on his face.

"Are you okay?" She asked concerned.

"...No I'm not." He sighed. Silence enveloped the two for a few minutes.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked.

"Talk about what?" He asked fearing the question.

"The war you were in." She stated and saw Walker seize up for a second before relaxing.

"Nah, I'm fine. So don't worry about it." He said in a cheery voice.

"But I think you should at least discuss somethings, it could help-" She started.

"I said I'm fine Blake." He forcefully interrupted making her mouth clamp shut, "It's fine, cool, and dandy that you care so much about my well being but when I say I'm fine, _I'm Fine._ So drop it." He said. Another pregnant silence enveloped them before Walker sighed and looked to the side. He grabbed his bag and walked out the door, leaving Blake in the quiet room.

* * *

Walker marched through the halls of the academy and somehow found himself on the rooftops. Leaning over the railing he took in the beauty of the early morning sky and sighed. He heard the door open behind him and tensed up a bit before relaxing when the said person leaned next to him on the railing.

"You know I don't think you sleep." Walker joked lightly.

"I have coffee keeping me up most of the time but I assure you I sleep like everybody else." Ozpin joked back. Silence enveloped them while they enjoyed each others company...well Ozpin enjoyed Walker's company while the latter didn't care at this point.

"If you've come to ask if I'm okay then you already know the answer." Walker plainly said.

"No that's not why I came up here." Ozpin said.

"Then why did you come up here then? Surely you didn't come up here just to gaze at the rising sun." Walker said drawing a light laugh from Ozpin.

"I came up here to ask some questions about your world." Ozpin said making Walker tense.

"What part do you want to know?" Walker strained.

"How long were you at war with those..." Ozpin trailed off.

"Locust." Walker seethed a bit.

"Locust. How long?" Ozpin asked.

"...17 years, so my whole life." Walker answered truthfully. Ozpin looked at the young man besides him with a bit of pity, and thought back to the great war and the children born in it. This boy was a child of war.

"We had another war before that though." Walker plainly said, as if the fact didn't bother him making Ozpin look at him with a bit of shock.

"I presume it's with these locust creatures?" Ozpin asked to which Walker just shook his head.

"No...it was with each other. It was over resources." Walker said.

"And how long was this war?" Ozpin asked.

"79 years." Ozpin's eyes widened when he heard that answer. The great war on Remnant only lasted forty years, his lasted almost a century.

"We called it the pendulum wars. Biggest war known to mankind on Sera between two factions over a resource. I was born a week after the war ended, my parents made a joke saying I was the baby that ended a war." Walker laughed a bit before frowning in his helmet.

"How long did peace last before the locust attacked?" Ozpin asked.

"Six weeks after the pendulum wars ended." Walker stated bitterly. Ozpin glanced at the boy from the corner of his eye and had a look of sorrow in his eyes.

"If you don't mind me asking, when did you join your military?" Ozpin asked.

"The age of consent was eighteen but I joined when I was thirteen." Walker answered after quick thought.

"Why did you get to join so early?" Ozpin asked.

"I sort of lied to get in. My parents were not happy with me." Walker laughed.

"I would imagine, but why join so early?" Ozpin asked.

"My dad was a gear when I was a kid and I wanted to be just like him. I thought that becoming a gear would make me a hero in my family's eyes...but all it did was bring them heartache when they found out." He said solemnly.

"My dad scolded me for a few weeks before asking me why I became one. And I told him it's because I wanted to become like him and bring honor to the family's name and be a hero. He told he didn't want me to be like him, he wanted me to be better than him and that war doesn't need heroes...it needs people to get the job done no matter the cost." Walker added. Ozpin looked at the boy and he thought of a similar student that wanted to be the same thing, a hero. But the difference between him and Walker is that Walker already knows the truth.

"It's funny because I told him that I would die sacrificing myself to save humanity...but the thing about sacrifice is that you never know if what you did matters in the end." Walker said. The two sat there in silence and watched the sun peek up over the horizon, it was a peaceful sight that you would cherish.

"While I appreciate you openly telling me these facts, why didn't you tell your team?" Ozpin questioned.

"Because they're too innocent for some of this. Besides you were going to find out eventually through the data, so might as well spare you some details." Walker answered truthfully.

"You have to tell them , they need to trust you." Ozpin sighed.

"But can I trust them?" Walker questioned.

"What do you mean?" Ozpin asked.

"Last night I caught Ruby and Weiss looking through my bag." He gestured towards the bag. "Pretty sure Yang was too. I made it clear the first night I met them all, not to go through my shit without my consent and what do they do?" Walker asked.

"They were curious." Ozpin reasoned.

"They were nosy, if there's one thing I don't like people doing. It's people looking through my shit without my consent." Walker shot. Ozpin stared at the boy in front of him with a neutral expression.

"I understand you're angry at them and you have every right to be, but you need to tell them. You lashing out and being secretive raises more questions about you, which results in more actions like the one. One of two things can happen: I can show them what you've been through or two, you can tell them yourself." Ozpin said.

"It doesn't matter which choice I make because they're going to find out either way. Just know that they won't be the same after they find out." Walker warned.

"I am aware." Ozpin merely said.

"Hmph... How far are you in the footage?" Walker asked.

"I just started last night, so I'll say I'm about a couple of your battles in. Back when you were..." Ozpin trailed off, but in truth he was much further than that. The data was about the boy's daily life, from the friendly banter to the bloody battles.

"Green as the trees here?" Walker joked.

"Yeah." Ozpin answered.

"Heh, then you haven't even experienced the worst part yet." Walker chuckled.

"There's more?" Ozpin asked shocked a bit.

"Loads, think of the footage as a sick game show. The prize is living to see another day." Walker laughed and picked up his bag, walking to the door before stopping.

"I got a question to ask you." Walker said.

"What is it?" Ozpin asked.

"You guys got a place where I can keep all my stuff?" Walker asked.

* * *

 **A few weeks later:**

Walker came around to forgiving the team about the bag incident, a simple mishap he reasoned. Ruby kept apologizing saying she would make it up which he reassured her that it was fine, but she insisted. Weiss gave an apology and claimed it was unethical of her to search through his stuff without his consent; Yang gave a half-ass apology and said she wasn't looking through his bag, a fat ass lie which he called her out on. Blake...Blake apologized but she kept giving him sympathetic glances from the corner of her eye when she thought he wasn't looking; he actually was becoming irritating. At first he didn't mind but now it felt a bit insulting. The five were eating lunch with team JNPR, a team he's come to tolerate except one person, and were listening to the end of Nora's recurring dream. Blake shot Walker another look and he decided to stop this because now it was repetitive.

"Blake can I talk to you?" Walker asked, which got the attention of the others. "Alone." He added.

"Yeah sure." Blake said getting looks from her friends.

"Ohhhh, are you going to put the moves on Blake? Huh Walker?" Yang teased.

"Yes Yang, Blake and I are going to fuck like there's no tomorrow and have numerous kids." He said sarcastically. Yang burst out laughing while Ruby's and Weiss' faces turned beet red. Blake's face blushed immensely as Walker led her outside of the lunchroom.

"So uh...is he always like this?" Jaune asked sheepishly.

"Y-yeah, he flirts as much as Yang but he's super nice when the time comes." Ruby said.

"I have to agree with Ruby, he may flirt but he's polite in certain situations. Like when we were at a restaurant last week I thought he was going to be rude and brash but he acted like a well mannered young man." Weiss agreed.

"Huh, he sounds super cool." Jaune said.

"Yeah he is, he's got all these badass scars." Yang said.

"Where did he get all of them though?" Pyrrha asked.

"I don't really know. He said from various people and things where he was from." Yang said.

"Where is he from?" Pyrrha asked.

"He said a place called Sera." Weiss answered. "But everywhere I looked there isn't any record of this Sera place known to Remnant." She said.

"That must mean he's an alien!" Nora exclaimed.

"No Nora, that probably isn't it." Ren sighed.

"Uh huh Ren! I mean look at his helmet, he never takes it off. Maybe he's one of those super ugly aliens that is subconscious about their face." Nora said.

"He's probably like you and me Nora. He probably has a normal human face but isn't comfortable with showing it." Ren reasoned.

"I'll prove it Ren. I'll take his helmet and show his face." Nora said determined.

"That's probably not a good idea Nora." Ruby said.

"Why?" Nora tilted her head.

"He didn't like us going through his bag, I seriously doubt he'll like you touching his helmet." Weiss said.

"Nah, he'll thank me for it." Nora stated nonchalantly. Everybody just sweat dropped with the exception of Ren who just rubbed his face. She was going to get them into something bad and they knew it.

* * *

 **Outside:**

"Stop." Walker said.

"Stop what?" Blake asked.

"Stop giving me those looks, it's annoying now." He answered.

"You need to talk to someone about it then." She said.

"Already talked to Ozpin about it, so that's enough." He replied.

"Why did you tell him before you told us?" She asked a little hurt.

"I told him because you all aren't ready." He said.

"Ready for what? The talk about the war? We aren't ready or you aren't?" She asked making him stop and think. He told Ozpin because it looked like the man had seen a war in his lifetime.

"...Fine _I'm_ not ready to talk about it yet." Walker answered quietly.

"Walker... I know it must be hard, but you need to tell us about it. It's the only way for you to move on." Blake said softly making him chuckle.

"There is no moving on Blake." He argued weakly.

"Yes there is... Walker we're your friends, you can't move on if you keep pushing us away when we want to help you." She said.

"I push you guys away for a reason." He said.

"Why?" She asked.

"I'm afraid that if I let you guys in then I'll be happy." He answered quietly.

"Why would you be afraid to be happy?" She questioned.

"...Because when I'm happy, bad things always happen to the people I care about." He said. Blake looked at him sorrowfully then hugged him, which he slowly returned back.

"Walker we're your friends, it's our job to make you happy." Blake smiled.

"Heh, Muchas gracias Señorita bonita." Walker laughed and tightened his hug before letting go. "We should probably go inside before they get any ideas. They might think we're talking about actually having kids." Walker joked. Blake's cheeks turned pink and she quickly nodded before heading inside with Walker. Everybody looked at him then at Blake's still pink face then gained smug smiles making him uncomfortable.

"I don't like those looks." Walker said.

"We have no idea what you're talking about." Yang said cheerily.

"Bullshit, because the moment we came in you all had those smug ass looks." He said then looked at Yang. "Like the one you have now." he added.

"So, you two having a conversation about your future kids?" Yang said cheekily.

"Yes Yang, we were. Just like how I was talking about having kids with You, Ruby, and Weiss." He said sarcastically. Ruby's face turned the shade of her cloak, Weiss had the same reaction, Yang's face went from cheeky to embarrassed in a millisecond, and Blake's eyes turned to slits as she glared at them.

"Don't think I forgot about you four." He said turning from the girls to JNPR.

"W-what? Why us?" Jaune asked surprised.

"Because I know you four had a hand in this." Walker stated.

"What! What do you have on us robot man?!" Nora shouted.

"Besides the fact that you and Ren look like a couple." Walker said making Nora look surprised.

"What?! No, Ren and I are together! Not together-together, but together." Nora denied.

"One, I never see you two separate. And two, you are super close to him like white on rice. So there you go, you two obviously look like a couple." Walker stated. Nora blushed immensely and looked down while Ren blushed a bit.

"Now there's you two." Walker said. Pyrrha, not willing to let him confess her feelings to Jaune, bolted out the room with the blonde in tow followed by Ren and Nora.

"Well this day sure turned out for the better. I guess." Walker said getting up and getting up.

"Where are you going?" Ruby asked.

"To talk to Ozpin." He said.

"About?" Weiss interrogated.

"A matter that must be discussed." He said and left before they could ask anymore questions. As soon as he left everybody looked at Blake with questioning looks.

"So, Blake. Were you two discussing your future kids?" Yang teased.

"YANG!" Blake shouted and covered her face.

* * *

Walker entered the elevator to Ozpin's office and listened to the tune. Humming to it, he swayed back and forth a bit and snapped his fingers until the elevator opened. He was greeted by Ozpin staring at his computer with Glynda over his shoulder staring at the screen with a hand covering her mouth. They hadn't noticed him yet and he decided to let them watch the rest, he was about to close the elevator but Ozpin looked up from the computer as did Glynda. Both had expressions that he didn't like, before he could close the elevator Glynda spoke up.

"How are you still sane?" She asked making Walker laugh.

"Who said I was?" He laughed making her expression worsen.

"Why haven't you asked for mental help?" She asked.

"Not sure if you noticed but there aren't many psychiatrist left, so that's possibly the reason why." He answered nonchalantly. "Plus, I don't need mental help, I'm perfectly fine in my opinion." He added.

"Mr. Walker you display psychopathic tendencies, you need mental help." Glynda said.

"I _need_ for everyone to stop caring about me so much. I'm fine." Walker argued.

"No you're not. You keep saying that to push everyone away and it's damaging your psych, you need help." Glynda said firmly.

"I need for you to fuck off, because you're starting to piss me off. I know you care so much about me because I'm a student now but stop worrying about me because it feels like you're smothering me. God, you sound like mom when she found out I enlisted." He whispered the last part. Ozpin heard but said nothing while Glynda just stood still.

"If that is what you want then I'll leave you alone. But know Ozpin and I are here if you need someone to talk to." She said.

"Heh, alright. Keep thinking that." Walker said bitterly before closing the elevator. Waiting a few minutes, Glynda turned back to Ozpin, who had his eyes glued on the computer.

"Sir, I worry about him." She said.

"I do too Glynda. He knows that he's not fine but insists on pushing everyone away." He assured her.

"I want to know why though." She said.

"He fears the moment he lets somebody into his life, he'll lose them." Ozpin said. "He's using it as a defense mechanism to hold onto what ever he has left." He added.

"I just don't think he knows how damaged he is." Glynda said.

"Or he just doesn't care anymore." Ozpin added.

"He needs somebody to talk to." She said.

"He has RWBY but he hasn't told them yet." He said.

"Why not?" She asked.

"He says that the data here will ruin their innocence and I don't disagree." Ozpin stated as he watched the data.

"Sir... they need to know." Glynda started.

"I know." Ozpin interrupted. "But give Mr. Walker time to settle in before we show them what he's been through. He definitely needs it." He said.

"Understood." Glynda said and walked towards the elevator.

Ozpin sighed and rubbed his temples. While Glynda was a strict teacher she did have some maternal moments when it came to a student's well being and when she saw what Walker had gone through she took it to a whole new level. He had numerous problems stacking on his soldiers; from the Vytal festival's security, to the missing person's case he was working on, to **her**. Ozpin had a lot on his shoulders at the moment and it was going to get worse, he could feel it. But he had a more important matter to attend to right now.

.

.

.

His empty coffee mug.

* * *

 **AN: Well holy shit, I got lazy. Anyways, thanks for sticking with this story and giving it a chance. I don't really have much to say other than if you guys are going to write reviews please don't make them rude. One, it makes me not want to continue for the people that do enjoy; and two, it makes me feel shitty because I feel like I'm a shitty author. So if you guys don't like the story then please just politely leave; we're here to read a story made by a fan not make someone feel like shit. I'm going to update this story more frequently now that I'm in sort of a groove. Oh and one last thing, I'm not doing any pairings (I think. meh, time will tell". Anyways don't let me keep you guys, so goodbye and have a good day.**


	4. Chapter 4: visceral revelations

**AN: Well, it seems this story got a little popular since when I first started and I'm glad for that. I told you guys that I'd be updating this more often now that I'm in a sort of groove. I'm still going to update my other story along with this, I just need to work out some kinks in it. Now some of you may be complaining about Walker joining at the age of thirteen and saying it's not realistic (that's what I assume some of you are saying, I could be wrong), but so what? It's a fucking fanfiction and there are loads of other stories that have the character as child soldiers; plus there are real life child soldiers. Though let's not get into that, because I don't feel like starting a conflict between you guys and offending some of you. I skipped a few chapters because I got lazy so we're in volume 3 right now. Oh, and one last thing, there will be blood in this chapter. So without further adieu, let's roll on with the story.**

* * *

 **A few weeks later:**

Needless to say the past few weeks has been relatively calm for Walker, he's passing all his classes with flying colors; especially combat class and he has some friends that won't be going anytime soon. He just learned about some tournament about a week ago called the Vytal festival, in other words it's a giant throw down to see who's the best team. He couldn't join since the limit was four so he had to watch from the sidelines, which he had no problem with. Everyone was doing their own thing in the meantime. Ruby was in the forge, Weiss was in the library with Blake studying, and Yang and him were in the dorm room playing a game. Life was good for him lately and he felt like nothing could go wrong...

"Our parents are coming to visit." Yang stated.

"What?" Walker asked confused.

"Our parents are coming to visit." Yang repeated.

"No, I got it the first time but what does that have to do with anything?" Walker asked.

"So our dad is... kind of protective of us." Yang said sheepishly.

"How protective?" Walker asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Last time I had a boy over dad scared him so bad that I never saw the boy again." Yang said as she looked at Walker, who just stared at her for a few seconds before laughing making Yang take on a shocked face.

"You're not scared?" She asked.

"Why would I be scared?! Ahahahaha! It takes more than an encounter with a father to scare me." Walker laughed making Yang smile a bit. The two played the game a bit longer before Ruby burst in the room with a wide smile on her face.

"Guys, shut up! I've got exciting news!" She cheered while bouncing around before landing in Walker's lap.

"Does it involve you sitting in my lap?" He joked. Ruby looked down and noticed she was sitting in his lap before blushing and quickly getting up.

"S-sorry, didn't mean to do that." She blushed.

"It's fine. But what's got you so excited?" He asked.

"Mom and dad are coming to visit!" She squealed making Walker's ears ring. He shook his head to get rid of the ringing sounds which only made it worse.

"Yeah, I already know." He said and turned back to the game.

"W-wha? How?" Ruby asked, Walker just jabbed a thumb in Yang's direction as she turned and waved at Ruby. Ruby then sat next to Walker and leaned on his shoulder while watching him get beaten by Yang multiple times before he got pissed and threw the controller on the ground.

"Fuck this game! Fuck all this bullshit!" He raged making Yang laugh.

"Oh come on Walker, it's not that bad." She laughed.

"Easy for you to say! You're the one whooping my ass all the way around Remnant." He argued. "Fuck this game I'm leaving." He huffed.

"Walker...Walker where are you going?" Yang laughed as he made his way to the door.

"Away from this stupid ass game!" He said angrily as he marched out the door. Yang began laughing and soon Ruby did too at his attitude.

"So, Ruby. When is the bullhead coming?" Yang asked as she mashed buttons.

"It should be here in about ten minutes." Ruby answered as she mashed buttons even faster. Yang's eyes widened and she dropped the controller.

"Ruby! Why didn't you tell me!?" Yang shouted as she shook Ruby.

"I. Don't. Know. Please stop." Ruby said between shakes and Yang stopped. "I thought you knew." She added.

"No, I didn't. I've got to take a shower so you have the job of showing them around." Yang said as she bolted to the bathroom. She popped her head out a second later.

"By the way, they don't know about Walker. So try not to say anything that'll make him look bad when he meets them." Yang added before slipping back into the bathroom. Ruby looked on her scroll and her eyes widened before she bolted out the door. Rushing through the halls Ruby was stopped when she heard Ozpin call her name.

"Ms. Rose." He said making her whirl around to face him.

"Oh, hello headmaster. What can I do for you?" She greeted politely.

"I was wondering if you've seen around." Ozpin said.

"He walked out of the room after he got mad at a game him and Yang were playing. I don't know where he went though." Ruby explained.

"I see." Ozpin rubbed his chin. "Well anyways, when you are finished greeting your family can you bring your team up to my office? There is a matter I must discuss with you all about your teammate." He said.

"Is he in trouble?" Ruby asked worried.

"No, he isn't but he has been keeping information about himself away from you all." Ozpin answered.

"What kind of information?" Ruby questioned.

"Personal information that I gave him a choice to tell you all, but since he hasn't I must regretfully show it to you all with or without his approval." Ozpin said.

"Well okay, I guess I can do that. Anything else headmaster?" Ruby asked.

"No, that is all Ms. Rose." Ozpin stated.

"Alright then. See you later headmaster." Ruby waved goodbye and zoomed out to the courtyard. Ozpin just stayed in place for a minute before sipping his coffee.

"May Oum have mercy on their poor souls." He said solemnly.

* * *

Ruby zoomed out to the courtyard and saw a crowed of people gathering around the docks waiting for passengers to get off. She saw Weiss waiting for someone coming out of a personal bullhead and stood next to her.

"Hey Weiss." Ruby greeted.

"Hello Ruby." Weiss greeted back. They watched as a tall white haired female in Atlesian specialist attire walk out of the bullhead with a neutral expression on her face, she seemed unimpressed as she gazed around to take in the surroundings.

"Winter!" Weiss called out as she waved at Winter who looked in her direction with a deadpanned expression. Weiss and Ruby ran over to her and stopped in front of her.

"Winter it's so good to see you! Oh, your presence honors us." Weiss did a curtsy while Ruby just looked confused and stared wide eyed.

"Beacon, it's been a long time. The air feels different." Winter said without much emotion in her voice as she looked around unimpressed.

"Well it is fall... so it's probably colder." Ruby said quietly before she was punched in the shoulder by Weiss.

"So what are you doing here?" Weiss asked curiously.

"Classified." Winter said stoically.

"Oh right." Weiss said somewhat surprised. "Well how long are you staying here?" She asked.

"Classified." Winter said again.

"Of course." Weiss smiled. Ruby just looked at Weiss then at Winter.

"Well this is nice... I think." She said confused.

"You're going to love it here! I know you travel a lot, but Beacon is so much different from Atlas. Vale too, the government and school are completely separate. Can you believe it I-" Weiss chanted.

"I'm more than aware how this kingdom handles its bureaucracy. That is not why I came here." Winter interrupted.

"Right." Weiss said.

"Nor did I come here to watch my own blood fail in battle, but it appears I have no choice." Winter said harshly.

"But we won." Weiss said.

"Only a novice would refer that a victory. I counted that at least three strikes missed." Winter replied making Weiss put her head down. "Leave us." Winter commanded the knights as they backed away.

"How have you been." Winter asked after sighing.

"Oh splendid thank you for asking. I'm actually top ranking in our sparing class, the rest of my studies are going wonderfully too-" Weiss listed off. Winter raised her hand and slapped Weiss upside the head causing a huge welt to form.

"Silence you boob! I don't recall asking about your ranking. I asked how you've been. Are you eating properly? Have you taken up any hobbies? Are you making new friends?" Winter smiled lightly.

"Well, there's Ruby." Weiss said as Ruby snorted and pushed the bump back into Weiss' head.

"Boob." Ruby snorted.

"Hey Ruby, don't tell me you forgot us." A voice rang out. Ruby turned around and squealed in excitement.

"Ah, Mom! Dad!" Ruby shouted as she zoomed over to hug them. The three hugged for a moment longer before Ruby led them over to Weiss and Winter.

"Mom, dad. This is Weiss and Winter." Ruby introduced. Weiss waved and Winter politely nodded at the duo.

"Hello, my name is Summer Rose and I'm Ruby and Yang's mother." Summer politely greeted.

"I'm Taiyang, their father." Taiyang greeted with a two finger salute.

"Pleasure to meet you." Weiss did a curtsy making Summer giggle.

"You don't need to do that with us, if you're Ruby's friend the you're ours." Summer smiled at Weiss. The five made their way towards the school making small conversations between themselves.

"So Ruby how's Yang been doing? Have you made any new friends?" Summer asked.

"Yang's been good, she's one of the best at combat and... yes?" Ruby said in an unsure tone. Summer raised an eyebrow, she knew that tone all to well.

"Are you hiding something Ruby?" Taiyang asked suspiciously.

"No?" Ruby said in the same tone making Taiyang narrow his eyes at her.

"Ruby we know when you're lying." Summer said as she looked at her daughter who was sweating buckets. Weiss was standing in the sidelines rolled her eyes decided to speak up.

"His name is Walker." Weiss just said making Summer, Winter, and Taiyang look at her. "What?" She asked. The three adults looked at her and Ruby with questioning looks.

"You didn't write about this Walker character in your letters Weiss." Winter said stoically making Weiss shudder at her tone.

"Right, Ruby. You never told us you had a boy on your team." Taiyang said in a stern voice which made Ruby try to form an excuse.

"W-well you see... I-I was going to but..." She trailed off.

"But what?" Another voice called out. Ruby quickly turned around and immediately squealed in excitement before rushing over to said person and clinging to their arm like her life depended on it.

"Ah! Uncle Qrow!" She shouted. "It's so good to see you! Did you miss me?! Did you miss me?!" She smiled widely. Qrow took on a neutral expression before smiling lightly and rubbing her head.

"Nope." He said before letting his arm down, Ruby then fell off and landed on her butt Qrow turned his attention to the three adults. He smirked at Winter, who growled at him and turned his attention to Summer and Taiyang.

"Taiyang, Summer." Qrow nodded.

"Qrow." They both said stoically. Silence overtook the three as they stared at each other with neutral expressions before smiling.

"How have you been Qrow?" Taiyang said as he shook Qrow's hand.

"Eh. I've been better. You?" Qrow asked.

"Can't complain." Taiyang just said. Qrow then turned to summer.

"How have you been Summer?" He asked.

"I've been fine, thank you for asking Qrow." She thanked which he nodded.

"Now, what was Ruby going to do?" Qrow asked which made Ruby shrink as the three adults looked at her.

"She was going to tell us when she got a boy on her team." Summer answered.

"Hmm, yeah Rubes. When did you get a boy on your team?" Qrow asked as he took a sip out of his flask.

"About maybe a month or two ago." Ruby answered sheepishly.

"When were you going to tell us?" Taiyang questioned.

"U-um maybe after this school year." Ruby said. Taiyang just narrowed his eyes making Ruby sweat buckets; Summer decided to end his interrogation to spare her daughter further questioning.

"Taiyang stop, you're making her nervous." Summer said; Ruby sighed in relief.

"So what's he like?" Summer asked making Ruby give a goofy grin.

"He's awesome! He has this chainsaw assault rifle that goes wrrrrrrr! And he has this really long weapon that can kill a Deathstalker in one shot, and has this bow that can stick to things and blows up." Ruby continued to chant about his weapons making Summer smile. Winter was listening to the girl chant and asked questions about Walker.

"Has he done anything?" Winter questioned.

"No, he hasn't. He's really polite in fact." Weiss answered making Winter give her a look that she wanted to know more. "He's part of the reason why I've come to tolerate the faunus community more. Plus he not judgmental about me at all; when I told him about our family name he didn't care at all. He claimed that just because we have more money than anybody else doesn't make us different from them at all; we live like everybody else, only difference is that we have more money. He doesn't like father by the way." Weiss said.

"Well, he sounds like a respectable older man." Winter said.

"Young man." Weiss corrected.

"Excuse me?" Winter asked.

"He's only seventeen." Weiss answered.

"Really?" Winter asked.

"Yeah, he said he's only seventeen. Though, we've never seen his face before." Ruby chimed in.

"Why's that?" Taiyang asked.

"He has this helmet that he always wears; never once have we seen him take it off." Weiss answered making everybody raise an eyebrow.

"He wears a helmet?" Summer asked.

"Yep, he said something about getting tired of bone fragments and blood getting in his face." Ruby said making the adults' suspicion rise.

"I'm sure he's just talking about the grimm." Weiss said trying to make Walker seem less suspicious.

"Ruby are you sure he's talking about the grimm?" Qrow asked skeptical.

"Yes I'm sure." Ruby nodded, the adults weren't to sure the way she nodded.

"Ruby did he try anything?" Taiyang asked.

"No he didn't dad, the only thing he did was get mad when we searched through his bag." Ruby stated making Taiyang narrow his eyes.

"What was in the bag?" Taiyang asked suspiciously.

"We don't know, but I did catch sight of something that looked like a journal of some sort." Ruby answered.

"What kind of journal?" Winter asked.

"I don't know. It had some burn marks on it and it looked worn; it had a cog on the front though." Ruby said. The adults decided to dismiss the matter for later.

"So anything else we should know about him?" Qrow asked.

"Well, he's brutal in a fight... I mean he's really scary in a fight. Yang doesn't even try to fight him." Ruby answered with a shudder surprising Qrow, Taiyang, and Summer. Yang? The girl who will fight anyone for the fun of it, won't fight someone? Something doesn't add up.

"Anything else?" Summer asked.

"Sometimes at night, he gets up to go to the bathroom and I keep hearing him say it's his fault and that he shouldn't have survived. When I asked him about it he told me it was a nightmare he had, though I don't think that's it." Ruby added worriedly. The adults stopped when they heard that; it was his fault? He shouldn't have survived? There was something this boy was hiding.

"Well I think that's enough about your boy teammate. Shall we go see Ozpin?" Taiyang asked summer, who nodded.

"Oh! You guys are going to see him too?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah we are. What are you going for?" Qrow asked.

"Professor Ozpin said something about Walker holding information from us." Ruby said. Taiyang, Qrow, and Winter narrowed their eyes in suspicion while Summer took on a thinking face.

 _'He said something was his fault and that he shouldn't have survived plus he's withholding information and wears a helmet constantly. Perhaps he suffers from a form of PTSD.'_ Summer thought as the group made their way to Opzin's office. While Summer was lost in her thoughts she didn't notice she bumped into somebody and got knocked over.

"Oh shit, my bad." A voice apologized and a hand appeared in front of her. She looked up and saw a man in a golden helmet with glowing port holes. He wore a round body armor and had on a pair of combat pants that had multiple pockets near the bottom; His boots seemed worn too. His skin was littered with scars. The most noticeable feature was the Cog tag that was swinging from his neck.

"Umm; Ma'am? Are you alright?" He asked. Summer quickly shook her head.

"O-oh yes, sorry. I wasn't paying attention." She said as she took his hand.

"Eh, it happens to us all at times." The man joked and lifted her up. Summer stared into his port holes before introducing herself.

"Oh! Where are my manners? I'm Summer Rose, Ruby and Yang's mom." She introduced herself.

"Nice to meet you. First lieutenant Walker Ronin." Walker introduced. Summer's eyes widened a bit as she stared at the young man before her. She thought he would be around Ruby's height and have a higher pitched voice. Walker didn't really know what to do in this situation, she was staring to much, so he just decided to introduce himself to everybody else.

"Greetings, Ms. Schnee. First lieutenant Walker Ronin at your service." He introduced himself to Winter, who's eyes widened a bit.

"How do you know my name?" She asked.

"Weiss talks about you to me. I must say you most certainly uphold your physique as the strong and beautiful independent women that Weiss describes you as." Walker said politely. Winter was taken back at how polite he was; she thought that he would be a little cynical and rude judging by the way he looked, but her sister was right. He was well mannered, he's certainly one of the more interesting men she has met.

"Well I'm flattered." Winter smiled lightly. Walker turned to Taiyang who had his eyes narrowed a bit.

"You know, if you're going to judge someone you should at least introduce yourself first." Walker said flatly.

"Taiyang xiao long." Taiyang said stoically. Walker just shook his head at the man and sighed.

"I'm guessing you're Yang's dad?" Walker asked.

"Yes. Why?" Taiyang narrowed his eyes at Walker, who just stared right back.

"Then that explains where she got her puns from." Walker dreaded. Taiyang's expression went from suspicious and serious to relaxed and kind.

"What puns has she been saying?" Taiyang smiled making Walker shudder.

"Don't even get me started... Ugh, there was one where she said something about my helmet and hats." Walker said as he walked with the group.

"Is it the hats off to you one?" Taiyang grinned making Walker look at him with a deadpan expression under his helmet.

"Yes... it is." Walker said flatly. "But enough about puns, who are you sir?" He addressed Qrow, who had to stop drinking to look at him.

"Sir huh? Never had that kind of respect before." Qrow said as he took another sip. "I could get used to that." He joked.

"I usually say that to people who are a higher rank than me or are older and I don't know them that well." Walker said nonchalantly.

"You were in the military?" Winter asked now curious.

"Yep, have been for four years. Managed to reach the rank lieutenant before I died." Walker said offhandedly.

"Before you died?" Ruby said confused. Walker, realizing his mistake cursed under his breath and turned to face them while walking backwards.

"Did I say that? Whoops. Well, anyways was part of the military and I achieved this rank; moving on." Walker shrugged and turned around while getting out his combat knife and tossing it in the air and catching it. He kept doing this the rest of the walk, not noticing the faces of the group behind him have different expressions. Walker's sentence brought the group to a long period of silence; he sounded so nonchalant about dying. Almost as if he was expendable. Qrow narrowed his eyes at Walker and slightly reached for his weapon before deciding against it and putting his hands in his pockets. Walker suddenly stopped in front of the elevator making everyone else stop too.

"You know... it's rude to try and kill someone without even getting to know them Qrow." Walker said in a low tone. Qrow tried to play it off as if he didn't know anything, making Walker give a bone chilling laugh.

"I don't know what you're talking about-" Qrow started.

"Don't bullshit me Qrow. I saw you reaching for your weapon." Walker said making everyone tense up as he stopped catching his knife and slowly trace a scar across his forearm with it.

"How did you know I was going for it?" Qrow asked.

"While I was flipping my knife I saw you in its reflection. Just because I wear this helmet doesn't mean I'm blind; I already know none of you trust me and that's fine. But the least you can do is try not to kill me, it's actually quite rude." Walker stated as he pushed a button, calling the elevator. Silence enveloped them again with the exception of Walker singing slightly making them uncomfortable.

 _"What will we do with a drunken whaler?_

 _What will we do with a drunken whaler?_

 _What will we do with a drunken whaler?_

 _Early in the Morning._

 _Way hey and up she rises._

 _Way hey and up she rises._

 _Way hey and up she rises._

 _Early in the morning._

 _Stuff him in a sack and throw him over._

 _Stuff him in a sack and throw him over._

 _Stuff him in a sack and throw him over._

 _Early in the morning._

 _Feed him to the hungry rats for dinner._

 _Feed him to the hungry rats for dinner._

 _Feed him to the hungry rats for dinner._

 _Early in the morning._

 _Way hey and up she rises._

 _Way hey and up she rises._

 _Way hey and up she rises._

 _Early in the morning._

 _Shoot him through the heart with a loaded pistol._

 _Shoot him through the heart with a loaded pistol._

 _Shoot him through the heart with a loaded pistol._

 _Early in the morning._

 _Slice his throat with a rusty cleaver._

 _Slice his throat with a rusty cleaver._

 _Slice his throat with a rusty cleaver._

 _Early in the morning._

 _Way hey and up she rises._

 _Way hey and up she rises._

 _Way hey and up she rises._

 _Early in the morning."_ He sang in a hollow voice. Ruby and Weiss stood behind Taiyang, Summer, Qrow, and Winter as they stood defensively in front of them. Something about his voice just sounded... broken. Walker stopped singing when he turned around and noticed everyone on edge and was looking at him.

"What?" He asked.

"Kid... what were you singing and why?" Qrow asked.

"I was singing?" Walker asked. Everyone was looking at him strangely.

"Yeah you were. It was something about a drunken whaler." Ruby said as she hid behind Summer. Walker rubbed his chin before shrugging and turning around. Weiss and Ruby looked at Walker worriedly.

"Walker... are you okay, if not then we can get you help" Weiss said slowly. At those last few words, Walker's mind went blank for a few seconds before he responded.

"I'm fine Kelly, so stop worrying about me and worry about Fred's condition. We don't have very long before they come back once they find out we're not in that truck." He said in a distant voice. Weiss looked shocked for a second before taking on a confused expression.

"Who's Kelly?" Weiss asked, snapping Walker out of his trance.

"And who's Fred? Plus what was that about his condition?" Ruby asked.

"Who is they?" Qrow asked. Walker looked back at Qrow and jumped when he looked at him. He didn't see a drunk looking thirty year old man... he saw a tall Kantus wearing a headdress with spiked armor staring at him.

"Kid... who are they?" The Kantus asked making Walker flinch when it reached out to touch him. Just as it was about to touch him the elevator opened making him look at it; when he looked back at the Kantus, he saw Qrow in its place. Walker looked at the elevator then at the group in front of him before forming an incoherent sentence and pushed past them.

"I... I need to go." Walker said quickly and desperately as he made his way past them; the others looked at Walker worriedly as he made his way through the hallway and disappeared behind the corner.

"He's never acted like this before." Weiss said after a moment of silence, making everyone look at her. "Throughout the entire time I've known him, he's always seemed like a kindhearted guy that never let anything get him down. Always looking to help people no matter who they are... but what he did there was new. I've never heard him sound so desperate and scared, it's like he saw something he didn't want to see again." She added.

"What do you think it was?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know... and personally I don't think I want to find out." Weiss shuddered and walked in the elevator with Ruby.

The adults looked at each other skeptical before entering the elevator and closing the door.

* * *

Walker ran through the hallways and found himself in the dorm room area. He quickly knocked on the door but heard nobody answer it; he quickly fumbled around his pockets before he found his scroll he got a few days ago. Unlocking the door, he quickly threw himself inside and shut the door behind him while breathing hard. He rested his head on the door for a minute and took deep breaths trying to calm himself. He suddenly felt woozy before collapsing on the ground and his world going black.

.

.

.

When he woke up he found himself back on the torture barge.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, noooo! I got out! I fucking escaped! Why am I here?!" He shouted while looking around frantically. He caught site of multiple bodies hanging on meat hooks; rotting and giving off a putrid smell as maggots feasted on the decaying flesh. One body had its head decapitated and its stomach cut open with its entrails hanging out, if you looked close enough then you could see that the head was stuffed in the stomach. Walker couldn't stomach the sight and turned away, but every time he turned around more human bodies would litter his vision; bodies that had their eyes gouged out, bodies that had been melted from exposure to immulsion, bodies that were partially eaten, bodies that were nothing but strands of flayed flesh, bodies that had been mutilated beyond recognition and turned into twisted forms of art. Walker covered his eyes and screamed as his couldn't get the sight of the bodies out of his mind. So many of them clouded his vision and mind. It hurt to see so many of them all in one place, it made his mind feel like it was on fire.

Backing up away from the bodies while covering his eyes, he bumped into something. He looked down at his feet and noticed another pair behind him; clawed feet that resembled a tall locust type. Walker saw his combat knife on the right side of his belt and grabbed it. He spun around to stab the tall figure behind him but was stopped when the knife was thrown from his grasp. A hand wrapped around his neck and squeezed tightly, depriving him of air before lifting him up to eye level with it. He struggled and kicked the figure trying to escape its grasp on him, but only made the tall locust squeeze harder; making him wheeze. His kicks became more desperate and frantic as he felt his consciousness fade away before stopping completely as he fell into the black void in his mind.

When Walker woke up and tried to move he found himself wincing in pain and looked at his hands, which were chained up. He looked over his shoulder and found hooks embedded in them. He tried to jump to see if he could loosen the hooks but to no avail, they seemed to dig further in his flesh the harder he tried. Finally giving up he made his legs go slack but cried out in pain as the hooks seemed to peel his flesh more; his head finally sank down as he gave up trying to escape. Minutes turned to hours as he stood there with his head down before he heard a door opening behind him; he lifted his head and turned, only to see nothing in the room with him but when he turned around he found _him_ staring.

"Skorge." Walker spat as he glared at the locust general in front of him. Skorge gave a twisted smile before delivering a strong haymaker to Walker's stomach, making him spit up a little. Contracting the muscles in his stomach to try and mitigate the pain, Walker groaned before vomiting in his mouth as another punch impacted his stomach. The punching sequence lasted for ten minutes before Skorge grew tired of it and walked around the room before stopping to the right of Walker and staring at him. He then grabbed Walker's combat knife and stuck it in his back, making Walker scream in pain. Skorge then twisted the knife slowly before ripping it out and stalking in front of Walker and kneeling in front of him with a smile. He then slowly licked the blood off the knife and let the metallic taste in his mouth sit there before swallowing it and licking his teeth. Walker grimaced at the sight before turning his head to the side and gasping in pain; he looked down to see his knife in his abdomen before looking at Skorge weakly and falling unconscious.

* * *

 **Two hours later:**

Walker woke up with a sharp gasp while clutching his chest. Breathing heavily he looked around to find himself in the middle of the dorm room, and not in the torture barge. He sat up and leaned against the bookshelf chuckling to himself; before his mirthless chuckle became quiet tears and the tears eventually became sobs. Crying to himself as he brought his knees to his chest and reached into his pocket and took out a couple of COG tags and staring at them before letting his head sink down and began to think of everyone he left behind.

* * *

 **In Ozpin's office Two hours before Walker wakes up:**

Ruby was the first one out of the elevator to greet Ozpin followed by the rest. She noticed that Blake and Yang were already there, and General Ironwood stood besides Ozpin with a stoic expression.

"Hey Yang. Mom and Dad are here! Plus uncle Qrow is here!" Ruby shouted.

"Oh my gosh! Mom, Dad!" Yang said as she quickly walked over to them and hugged them tightly.

"Hey, I don't get anything kid?" Qrow said in mock hurt.

"It's good to see you too uncle Qrow." Yang laughed as she hugged him. "This is my partner Blake Belladonna." Yang gestured to Blake who waved at everyone, while everyone waved back.

Winter walked to general Ironwood and quickly saluted him.

"General Ironwood sir." She saluted.

"At ease Schnee." He said sternly before turning his attention to the rest of the compatriots in the room and nodding, otherwise not giving them a second glance. Ozpin smiled lightly before his face turned serious while rubbing his temples. Everyone noticed his expression and shot concerned glances.

"Oz? You alright?" Qrow asked. Ozpin sipped some of his coffee and rubbed his temples before sighing.

"No Qrow, I'm not." He sighed. Everyone shared concerned glances before Ruby decided to speak up.

"What's the matter professor." Ruby asked.

"It's about your teammate Walker." Ozpin said making RWBY raise an eyebrow.

"What about him?" Ruby asked.

"It's about him withholding information from you all." Ozpin stated without much emotion in his voice.

"Yeah, he's been acting a lot more secretive lately. One night I was woken up by him saying it was his fault and that he shouldn't have survived." Ruby said. Ozpin frowned at this and turned to his computer and typing something in.

"He's getting worse then." Ozpin said.

"Worse?" Blake asked. Ozpin sighed before turning to Glynda who gave him a solemn nod before rubbing the bridge of her nose. Everyone noticed this and began to grow curious as to what was going on.

"What's going on?" Ruby asked.

"There's a reason why Mr. Walker says all that Ms. Rose... he suffers from ptsd." Ozpin said, shocking everyone in the room with the exception of Summer.

"What's that?" Ruby asked.

"Post traumatic stress disorder. It usually happens when a person fails to recover from a terrifying experience or event." Weiss answered.

"What could he have suffered from?" Yang asked.

"Your teammate suffers from a war." Ozpin said shocking everyone.

"Ozpin there hasn't been a war in eighty years. He must have had something else ha-" Ironwood started.

"James this isn't something that can be faked and it wasn't grimm... when I first met Walker he gave me footage from his home." Ozpin interrupted. "He's faced more death in his entire life than both of us combined." He added solemnly.

"What kind of war?" Summer asked.

"Mrs. Rose; Walker's planet-" Ozpin started.

"Planet?" Summer asked and Ozpin nodded.

"His home called Sera; has faced near extinction." Ozpin stated grimly. Ironwood not believing him scoffed.

"So you're saying one of your students is what? An alien coming from a world that's nearly extinct? I don't believe it Ozpin." Ironwood scowled. "In what ways is he not from here?" Ironwood questioned.

"He doesn't have an aura, the footage Glynda and I have been watching for the past few weeks, and that he might know something about the missing person's case." Ozpin said making Taiyang and Summer's heads perk up.

"How is he related to the case?" Taiyang asked.

"I believe he has an idea on what's taking people from different settlements." Ozpin answered.

"Back to Walker's world. What about it." Qrow asked.

"On his world Sera, ninety-nine percent of the human population is extinct." Ozpin said making everyone's eyes widen.

"H-how many were there to begin with?" Ruby asked.

"The last time Walker and I talked, he said there were about seven billion humans alive. Now there is probably only tens of thousands left." Ozpin said drawing gasps from everyone. "Now I could sit here and keep answering your questions but I feel that showing you is the best way for you all to see what Walker has gone through; if any of you feel that you cannot stomach any of it, then you are welcome to leave the room." Ozpin said seriously. He nodded to Glynda who gave a somber look before pulling up a video of Walker's experience.

 _ **(Camera feed on)**_

 **The camera flicked on and it showed footage (first person pov) of someone walking and carrying four Lancers. The person was walking through a base that was full of soldiers doing there own thing, from playing football to training. The person came across a group of four talking and making jokes before calling out to get their attention.**

 **"Captain Nash!" The person called out getting his attention.**

"This guy's voice seems kind of young to be in the military." Weiss said.

"Maybe it's some random soldier." Ruby said.

"I can assure you it's not Ms. Rose." Ozpin said.

 **"Who the fuck are you?" Nash asked rudely as he looked the shorter person in front of him.**

 **"I'm your newest addition sir. Private Walker Ronin." Walker said as he dropped two of the Lancers and stuffed the other two in his hands to try and pick up the ones on the ground. Nash scowled at Walker and sighed deeply before slapping his face.**

 **"I tell them to get me someone new for my squad and they give me a rookie." Nash said angrily before quickly looking at Walker making him jump in surprise. "How old are you?" He interrogated.**

 **"T-thirteen sir." Walker answered nervously making Nash throw his hands in the air.**

 **"Jesus fucking almighty! They gave me a kid!" Nash yelled making everyone in the base look at him weirdly. "What the fuck are you all looking at?!" He shouted; they all went back to doing their activities. Nash turned to the rest of the squad and looked at them.**

 **"Introduce yourselves while I go see if this kid is with us or not." He ordered and marched past Walker.**

Everyone looked surprised at how innocent Walker sounded when he was younger. He reminded Summer, Taiyang, and Yang of Ruby right now. They were more or less surprised on how rude his commanding officer was to him.

"Wow. Walker was kind of a..." Ruby trailed off.

"Mess up." Yang finished.

"Yang don't say it like that!" Ruby exclaimed. Sure Walker seemed a bit... clumsy but he wasn't a complete mess up.

 **"Well kid, might as well meet everyone. I'm Fred Thompson but you can just call me Fred. I'm the heavy weapons specialist." Fred smiled. Fred was around 6'2, had dark brown hair slicked back, hazel eyes, slightly pale skin, and had a muscular build.**

 **"Since we're going to be teammates now, I guess introductions are necessary. I'm Kelly Cassidy. I'm the team's medic; so do try to get hurt." Kelly laughed making Walker shudder a bit. Kelly was 5'7 (a bit taller than Walker, who stood 5'5) with brunette hair tied into a pony tail, had dark blue eyes, pale skin and had a pear shaped body.**

 **"Nice to meet you and I'll try... I guess." Walker said sheepishly.**

 **"Amelia Blackwood. Team's sniper." Amelia said stoically. Amelia had dirty blonde hair that flowed freely, her eyes were green and had very pale skin making her look like a vampire, she stood about 5'10 and her body was the same shape as Kelly.**

 **"Pleasure to meet you all." Walker smiled underneath his helmet. Hearing a series of curses he turned around to find a pissed off Nash storming his way towards them; when he finally regrouped with them he turned his attention to Walker.**

 **"Alright kid, it's official you're part of the team so let's lay down some ground rules. First, when we're on a mission, you don't fuck around with anybody else except us; we're your teammates not anybody else. Second thing, do not give me any fucking nickname because if you do I will personally rip your skull out and proceed to fuck it. And last but not least, the mission comes first... got it rookie?" Nash questioned.**

 **"Got it sir." Walker said.**

 **"And cut the sir bullshit." Nash ordered.**

 **"Then what am I supposed to address you by?" Walker asked.**

 **"By Nash or Captain. Which ever one suites you fine, I don't care. Now gather around!" Nash ordered making everyone huddle around. "We got reports of locust attacking a hospital 10 clicks from here; this hospital is currently holding 55 wounded gears and over 150 civilians plus vast amounts of medical supplies. Our mission is to help defend it until the rescue king ravens come in to extract the civilians and wounded then we clean up. Got it?" Nash asked.**

 **"Got it." Everyone replied in unison.**

 **"Good. Walker and Kelly, you're with me. Amelia and Fred, you two will go through the front while we take the back entry way. Dead echo, move out!" Nash ordered as everyone boarded the king raven.**

"Walker's friends seem kind of cool... I think." Ruby said.

"Except Nash." Yang said.

"Agreed. I guess this is where Walker gets his language from." Weiss said. Everyone watched Walker as he looked out the king raven and into the city. As the ride began to carry on, everyone gasped when they saw the ruin it was in. Buildings were on fire, cars were flipped over, blood was splattered all over the ground, bodies were seen every once in a while.

"O-oh my Oum." Summer covered her mouth as she looked at the wreckage the city was in.

"What could have done this?" Winter asked as she gazed at the destruction.

 **The king raven ride was somewhat quiet with the exception of the rotors running. Nash scanned the surrounding area looking for the rumored Boomers that have taken up residence in one of the abandon buildings. After scanning his eyes caught site of Walker who was gripping his Lancer tightly while looking out at the destruction; he thought about striking up a conversation but decided against it. Kelly on the other hand decided to strike up one.**

 **"So Walker, where you from?" She asked making him look in her direction.**

 **"I'm from Jacinto." He answered loosening his grip on the Lancer a bit, something she noticed.**

 **"What part." She asked with a little curiosity.**

 **"Uh, I was born in the city. My mom is a researcher and my dad is a gear. My parents were always away when I was younger so I lived with my grandpa for a little bit." Walker said.**

 **"Well, no shit? Do you still keep in contact with your parents." Kelly asked.**

 **"Yeah, I do. My dad's actually at base right now and mom is in the city tending to my little brother." Walker said. Kelly, now interested, asked more.**

 **"So who's your dad?" She asked.**

 **"His name's Richard Ronin." Walker answered making Nash face him.**

 **"Your dad is Richard?" Nash asked.**

 **"Uh yeah... Why?" Walker asked.**

 **"Because he's the one that saved my life from RAAM two years ago." Nash said.**

 **"What? Really? He never told me he saved anyone from RAAM. How'd he do it?" Walker asked amazed, making Nash laugh a bit.**

 **"The crazy son of a bitch threw his helmet at RAAM as he was about to crush my skull under his foot. He then proceeded to disrespect the queen bitch herself in front of him and told him why doesn't he pick on someone his own size. Granted RAAM was still ten feet tall and intimidating as hell." Nash laughed a bit. Walker's eyes widened as he heard the tale about his dad.**

"Who's RAAM?" Taiyang asked.

"He's one of the generals in the locust horde." Ozpin answered without taking his eyes off the screen.

"What do you mean generals?" Ironwood asked.

"James, these things are not like the grimm. They actually have an organized army that is capable of leading; while grimm are able to plan ambushes and know when to retreat these... locust are able to take down entire civilizations by thoughtful planning." Ozpin said. Never had he actually been so grateful for the grimm.

"What do they look like?" Winter asked.

"Watch and see." Ozpin said stoically.

 **"He was actually given a** **commendation for saving my life and-" Nash was interrupted when he felt a jerk from the raven. He quickly bound up and looked out of it.**

 **"Shit!" Nash cursed as he held onto one of the handle bars as an explosion echoed next to the raven.**

 **"What's going on?!" Walker shouted.**

 **"We got Boomers in the-" Nash was interrupted when the raven jerked violently. He looked out the window and cursed loudly. "Fuck! The tail rotor is smoking! Alright kid brace for impact!" Nash yelled. Kelly laughed loudly as she buckled herself in and held on tight.  
**

 **"Ha haa! This is where the fun begins! Hang on tight rookie, this ride has no brakes!" Kelly laughed. Walker quickly tried to buckle himself in before he lost his grip; the raven jerked around violently and Walker was thrown around. The raven then tipped to the side making him slide out of it, he tried to get a grip on anything but couldn't and began to slip out of it. A hand quickly grabbed him and began to pull him up; he looked up to see Nash holding on to him with one hand. Nash's hand slipped and he lost his grip on Walker as he slid out of the king raven.**

 **"Aaaaaaahhhhh!" Walker screamed as he fell out of the king raven and towards a building.**

Everyone held their breath as they saw Walker fall from the sky before he hit a piece of rubble and slide into an abandoned building. They then saw the king raven crash and roll on the ground before it came to a complete stop.

"Shit... the kid got lucky." Qrow said as he looked at the screen.

"Yeah. Considering he doesn't have an aura and he fell from that height, I'd say he's very lucky." Taiyang said. The girls stared worriedly at the screen as they watch Walker slowly pick himself up.

"What hit them though?" Blake asked.

"Nash said Boomers, so I guess that's what hit them." Yang said as she continued to watch.

 **Walker coughed as he slowly picked himself up off the ground. He placed a hand on his knee but cried in pain when he did; looking at his hand he noticed his thumb was dislocated.**

 **"F-fuck." Walker said as he stared at his dislocated thumb. He slowly grabbed his thumb. "Okay on the count of three. One... two... three!" Walker exclaimed as he set his thumb back in place.**

 **"Fucking shit, ass, bitch, whore, cunt, motherfucking dick sucking bitch!" Walker cursed loudly as he whipped his hand back and forth to shake away the pain.**

"Well he certainly has a colorful choice of words." Taiyang said dryly.

"Even I don't curse that much." Qrow said as he took a sip from his flask.

"Lies." Summer said.

"Okay, I don't curse that much anymore." Qrow admitted.

"That's somewhat better I guess." Summer said.

 **Walker looked around and noticed he was high up in an abandoned building, probably one the higher levels. He looked around and noticed he only had a snub pistol and a smoke grenade. Sighing in annoyance and anger, he made his way to the lower levels while keeping his pistol at the ready. The building began to shake a bit making him stop; when the building stopped shaking he continued his trek down the building. When he made it to the first level he saw a dead gear slumped against a piece of rubble with his Lancer in his arms. Making his way over to the dead body Walker slightly pulled on the weapon; when it wasn't going anywhere he pulled a bit harder. He pulled a little to hard and an arm came off with the Lancer still in its grasp.**

 **"Oh well... that's nice." Walker said a little disturbed. He slowly pulled the arm off the Lancer and inspected it before looking back at the dead gear. "Sorry... but I uh, need this more than you." He said as he looked at the dead body before turning away and walking out of the building. He saw that he was on main street and that the crashed raven was a few blocks down. Making his way towards the raven he saw that it was smoking and began to hasten his pace. Walker finally arrived at the downed raven and began to look for his team, he then heard groaning from the cockpit and quickly made his way towards it. Looking inside the cockpit, he saw that the pilot was stuck inside; he quickly entered the cockpit and began to asses the situation. One of the pilot's legs were broken from the impact, he had a piece of metal lodged in his chest, and he was losing blood fast. The pilot quickly pulled out a snub pistol and aimed it at Walker making him put his hands in the air.**

 **"Whoa there, easy." Walker said making the pilot lower the pistol. "Where's my team?" He asked. The pilot struggled a bit to take his helmet off before turning to Walker and coughed up blood.**

 **"T-they're three blocks down a-and two blocks to the l-left. Y-you got to get past the B-Boomers and D-Drones first." The pilot coughed. "I-I'm going to die, aren't I?" He asked fearfully. Walker just nodded his head and grasped the pilot's hand.**

 **"Y-yeah... I'm sorry I couldn't do anything." Walker said as he squeezed the pilot's hand making the pilot flash a blood stained teeth smile at him.**

 **"D-don't worry kid... at least I won't die alone. H-here... take my COG t-tag... You deserve it for staying with meeeeeee." The pilot whispered as he gave Walker his COG tag before slowly closing his eyes and slumping down. Staring at the bloody COG tag in his hand, Walker slumped down next to the dead pilot before shouting a series of curses.**

 **"Fuck... Fuck... FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!" Walker cursed loudly as he slammed the side of the raven repeatedly.**

The girls were saddened at the pilot's death and Walker's reaction. He seemed so... broken about it, even though he barely knew the guy. Winter looked away from the screen for a quick second before returning her gaze to it with a slightly saddened expression.

"He didn't even know him, but he still cared." Ruby said a little tearfully.

"Y-yeah... makes me happy that he's our teammate." Weiss said as she wiped a tear from her eye. She had her doubts about him when she first met him, but he seemed to grow on her; he's the first person that didn't care about how much money she had or what her name meant, but who she was. If this was what he was like with random people then what was he like for the people he cared about?

 **Walker marched out of the cockpit of the raven and made his way down the street, he heard multiple feet echo from the distance and raised his Lancer. When he arrived at the third block he took cover around the corner and peeked out. He saw something move from inside one of the buildings ahead and ducked down; looking around he saw a figure walk out of the building and look around before looking in his direction. Walker ducked down and peered from the corner to see a Drone making its way towards him. Its scaly skin seemed to reflect the sun off of it while its eyes seemed to have a predatory gaze to it. Its footsteps were heavy and methodical; while its breathing was guttural and feral.**

"What on Oum is that?!" Yang practically shouted fearfully.

"That would be a Drone class Ms. Xiao Long. That isn't even the worst thing from his world." Ozpin answered. Yang looked at him then at the screen with fear; this is what Walker was hiding from them? No wonder he doesn't talk much about Sera!

"Oz... what do you mean this isn't the worst thing there?" Qrow asked.

"Qrow. The creatures of his world make the grimm look like everyday animals." Ozpin said making everybody look at him surprised.

 **Walker quickly took in a couple of deep breaths before popping out of the corner and shooting at the drone, catching it by surprise. 5.56 nato rounds impacted the chest of the drone before they found a place in its skull; the Drone dropped to the ground with a loud thump before blood started to pool around its body. Walker slowly stepped up to the body and poked it with his Lancer to make sure it was dead before making his way down the hospital.**

 **"Ground walker!" A guttural voice growled making Walker snap his head straight ahead of him. He saw numerous locust glaring at him before pointing their weapons and firing at him. Sliding into a nearby car for cover, Walker ducked his head down a bit as the bullets whizzed past his head. He peeked over and aimed his Lancer at a nearby Drone rushing towards his position, he fired at the Drone's legs making it fall over.**

 **"Revive me!" The Drone shouted as it tried to crawl towards its brothers but didn't make it far before more Lancer rounds hit the back of its head, killing it instantly. More Drones tried to rush in on Walker's position but failed as they were gunned down halfway from him.**

 **"Flanking!" A Drone growled as it began to take cover and move around Walker, when it was besides him it began to shoot at him making him dive out of the way and into the open. It shot him multiple times before it got back in cover as Lancer rounds impacted its cover. Walker dove behind a piece of rubble as more and more Hammerburst rounds flew past him; he then began to reload his weapon before it jammed on him.**

 **"Are you kidding me?!" He asked himself as he slammed the side of the Lancer before pulling on the lever to secure the clip. He saw a Drone take cover right behind his and jump over; revving up the chainsaw bayonet, he slammed it on the Drone's right shoulder. The chainsaw sparked with the armor before it cut through it and into the Drone's body making blood spray all over Walker; He began to force the chainsaw down across its midsection before cutting all the way to its left side, cutting the Drone in half and spilling viscera all over Walker's body and the ground.**

Everybody, except Ironwood, gagged at the gruesome display of violence. Taiyang coughed into his hand and turned away from the screen while Qrow stopped drinking out of his flask before spitting some it up. Summer held her hands up to her mouth and gagged, she looked at Glynda and noticed her turn green before making her way over to her and pat her back. Ruby turned green at the sight and covered her eyes while Yang stared wide eyed at the screen with fear and disgust. Weiss turned a shade whiter than her normal complexion and gagged and Blake found the nearest trash can and vomited a little.

"That was awful." Blake said as she spit the remaining vomit in the trash can; she could only imagine the smell of the blood, a thought that made her shudder.

"Professor. Walker had to live here?" Weiss asked.

"Yes he did. He also had to fight pretty much everyday to live, while we suffer from grimm attacks... he had to suffer from these... things." Ozpin gestured towards the screen.

"Never had I been so happy to have the grimm." Yang muttered, she would rather deal with the grimm then these... monsters.

"How is he so calm about it?" Ruby asked.

"He's not Ms. Rose. This is his very first battle." Ozpin answered making Ruby's eyes go wide. "He's been training hard to combat these locust, but this battle is his first... think of it as his initiation." He added.

"That's a brutal initiation." Qrow muttered.

 **Finishing off the rest of the locust, he finally caught his breath. Walker tilted his helmet up and vomited onto the ground, he spit the remainder out before reloading his Lancer. He began to jog towards the hospital and heard gunfire, making him quicken his pace.**

 **"Boom!" A slightly lethargic sounding voice said. A grenade shot over Walker's head making him duck and look behind him; thirty feet away from him was a Boomer as it reloaded its boomshot. It fired another grenade making Walker dive to his left as it impacted the ground, he quickly took cover behind a pillar as another grenade hit. He peeked out and fired a portion of the clip into the Boomer making it groan in pain.**

 **"Die already!" Walker shouted as he continued to fire; eventually the Boomer succumbed to its wounds before spinning around and falling to the ground, creating a loud thump on the ground. Walker heard shouting and gunfire making him rush towards the direction, he came across a horde of locust trying to break down a reinforced door while others fired into the higher story windows.** **Walker took cover behind a piece of rubble and analyzed the environment and noticed two different ways to tackle this situation.**

 **"Okay..." He breathed. "If I go to my left I can get a vantage point with that mortar that's on the ledge, firing it to take out a majority; the only downside is that if I miscalculate it I could end up hitting the hospital and injuring the people inside. I have more cover up there but limited ammo which means I have to scrounge around for more. If I go to the right, I can grab that Mulcher and cut down the number of locust attacking and draw their attention. The only downside of that is I have limited to no cover but lot's of ammo from the dead gears." He said to himself as he took a few calming breaths.**

Ironwood was actually surprised, something he rarely is, by the boy's analysis of his surroundings. He's only seen a few people asses a situation like the boy in the video; while he would love to speak to the boy personally he has more pressing matters to attend to. The boy is interesting, he'll give him that.

"Wow. He barely arrived at the site and already he made two options." Summer said impressed.

"He's actually like this when we're fighting grimm on missions." Ruby said.

"Really?" Summer asked.

"Yeah. Before even Ruby can create a plan he already has one at the ready." Yang said making Summer impressed.

"I'd love to get to know him." Summer smiled.

"You really should. He's sweet, caring, awesome, polite and overall he's good at fighting." Ruby said.

"Sounds like someone has a crush." Summer teased making Ruby blush.

"N-no that's not it..." She said quietly with pink cheeks making Summer laugh.

 **Hearing more panicked screams coming from the inside Walker made his decision.**

 **"No cover means I'm dead in a heartbeat so mortar firing it is then." He said as he quickly and quietly slipped behind the locust and jumped up on the ledge; seeing another dead gear he quickly and carefully pried the mortar free from her grasp. He set the mortar up and aimed it.**

 **"Okay... so there's fifteen Drones, three Boomers, and two Kantus. Let's see 83 meters total, wind is three knots, and the mortar is about five pounds; so it should be aimed... 72 degrees." Walker said as he loaded a mortar and fired creating a loud boom as it launched.**

 **"Sky fire!" A Boomer yelled as it tried to move out of the way. The mortar reached its climax then split in multiple fragments before colliding with the ground and taking out multiple locust in the process. Out of the twenty locust, only about eight remained. Walker ducked under the rapid fire from a gorgon pistol before peeking over and firing at the Kantus for a second before it rolled out of the way. His weapon clicked making him curse and equip his snub pistol and firing into the crowd; he managed to take out a three Drones before finishing the last one with a head shot, making its head explode.**

 **"Pop goes the freak show." Walker said as he reloaded the last clip into the snub pistol. His pistol finally clicked as it fired its last shot, making him curse in response. He noticed that there was a nearby Hammerburst sitting a couple of feet away from him, the only problem was that he couldn't get to it without getting shot. Thinking for a quick second, a light bulb finally appeared in his head making him smile a bit. Grabbing the smoke grenade on his belt he threw it in front of him and waited for it to explode; when it did he rushed over and quickly picked up the Hammerburst and dove for cover. He popped out of cover and fired into the remaining locust, killing everyone except a Drone and a Kantus. He fired at the Drone's legs, downing it but cursed when the Kantus screamed and chanted engulfing the Drone in white aura, reviving it. Walker ducked under a piece of rubble as bullets whizzed past him creating a hissing noise; he looked to he left and saw a frag next to his feet making him smile a bit.**

 **"Could always use more." He said as he grabbed the frag and waited for the bullets to stop, when they did he threw the frag next to the Drone's feet. The Kantus saw this and dove out of the way.**

 **"Frag!" The Drone shouted before it exploded, sending blood, organs, and bone fragments all over the pavement.**

 **"Succumb to the ink!" The Kantus shouted as it threw an in grenade. The grenade landed next to Walker making his eyes widen before it exploded sending him into a coughing fit; he quickly vaulted over the cover and ran past the Kantus as it fired at him before diving to the right as he fired at hit. His hammerburst clicked signalling he was out of ammo makin him sigh in annoyance. He quickly vaulted over the cover and equipped his Lancer and revving up the chainsaw; the Kantus saw this and screamed loudly making Walker stop dead in his tracks and cover his auditory sensors on his helmet.**

 **"Oh my fucking god! SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Walker shouted as the Kantus continued to scream. His anger finally got the best of him as he charged the Kantus and tackled it to the ground. He revved up his chainsaw and brought it down on its head making blood squirt out like fountain and gore cover his body. When the head split in half he finally stopped the chainsaw and ripped it out, making the body fall to the ground with a wet splat.**

 **"Fuck..." He breathed as he holstered his weapons and put his hands on his knees. He took a few deep breaths to get air into his lungs. Finally catching his breath he walked up to door and knocked on it a few times, when he heard nothing he then shouted to get somebody to open it.**

 **"You can open up now, they're dead!" Walker shouted to the door. Waiting a few moments he heard some objects being moved and the door swing open, he was met with Kelly who stared wide eyed at him.**

 **"K-kid?" She asked.**

 **"Uhhh yeah? Where else would I be?" He asked. Kelly stared at Walker for a bit before quickly hugging him and squeezing tightly.**

 **"We thought you died when you fell out." She said. Kelly looked behind him and noticed that there were multiple dead locust scattered on the pavement. "Did you do this?" She asked as she let go, making Walker look behind him.**

 **"Yeah I did. Kind of had to, the hospital was in trouble and I wasn't going to let everyone here down. I signed up to be a gear to save as many people as I can, so why not start here. Plus everyone here deserves to live, they've done nothing wrong and deserve a chance at life; it may seem like I don't care about them but as long as I'm alive and kicking then I'll try to save them and make sure they're safe." Walker smiled behind his helmet. Kelly looked shocked for a second before smiling at him and wrapping her arm around him.**

 **"You saved a hell of a lot of people here Walker. Come on I'm sure Nash will love to hear what you did." She smiled as she led Walker throughout the hospital. As he made his way through he noticed everyone was smiling at him and he nodded back.**

"He went through all that to save everyone there?" Ruby asked amazed. Everyone else stared at the screen with a little bit of awe; he survived a fall from a massive height, fought through a slice of hell, and battled numerous monsters to save random innocent people. Blake smiled at the screen as she watched Walker make his way through the hospital, but had to gently push numerous people down who tried to injure their selves to show him their appreciation. He truly was a good person down to the core. He was kind, caring, funny, charismatic, strong, and smart; he was like the perfect guy in one bundle. He didn't even care that she was a faunus; something very few people looked past.

"I have to say, the kid's got guts to take on something like that to save some people." Qrow said as he took a sip from his flask.

"He is very noble. You are lucky to have him as a teammate Weiss." Winter said.

"Yeah... I am." Weiss said as she smiled at the screen.

 **"Sir what is your name?" An old man asked from a wheel chair as he looked at Walker.**

 **"Private Walker Ronin sir." Walker said making the old man smile.**

 **"Thank you private. You not only save me but you saved my daughter and her children too." He gestured to the three behind him. The mother stood up and made her way up to Walker before hugging him and crying softly; Walker, not knowing what to do, slowly hugged her back and rubbed her back a bit. Eventually she stopped crying and detached herself from Walker before rubbing her tears away.**

 **"I'm sorry. That was very rude of me." She said as she wiped away more tears.**

 **"Nah, it's okay. Didn't mind it at all; we all need a shoulder to cry on sometimes." Walker smiled a bit.**

 **"We were worried that they were going to get in. You saved us from them, thank you." She said. "I'm Sasha Vine and these are my kids. Say thank you to the nice man." She said to her kids. The kids came out from the room and walked up to Walker.**

 **"Thank you!" They both shouted as they hugged his legs.**

 **"You're welcome." Walker said as he keeled down to their level. "What are your names?" He asked.**

 **"My name's Amy Vine." The girl said happily.**

 **"Amy? That's a nice name." He complimented making the girl giggle. "What's your name?" He asked the boy.**

 **"I'm Max! Are you a guardian angel?" Max asked making Walker chuckle.**

 **"Nah, I'm just a regular guy trying to do the right thing." Walker said to Max with a smile.**

 **"I want to be just like you!" Max said.**

 **"Well maybe when you're older you might be better than me." Walker said.**

 **"Really?!" Max asked amazed.**

 **"Yep." Walker said.**

 **"Alright you two, let him get to where he needs to be." Sasha said.**

 **"Alright... Bye Mr. Guardian angel!" The kids shouted happily before running back in the room.**

 **"Again. Thank you." Sasha said as closed the door. Walker stared at the door for a few seconds before turning to find Kelly standing there with a smirk on her face.**

 **"What?" He asked.**

 **"Nothing." She said with a smile.**

 **"What?" He asked again.**

 **"Nothing... Mr. Guardian angel." She just said as she began to walk away. Walker just sighed as he followed her throughout the building, which was surprisingly clean. He heard talking and stopped when Kelly gestured him to stop before entering the room and say something.**

 **"Ladies and gentlemen. Boys and girls. I give you the rookie!" She shouted. Walker entered the room and looked at the shocked faces of his team. Nash was holding a glass of water before dropping it, Fred was drinking something before spitting it out, and Amelia was cleaning her sniper before stopping and going wide eyed when she looked at Walker. The room was silent for a few moments before Fred suddenly rushed over to Walker, picked him up and gave him a bear hug.**

 **"Holy shit, kid! You're alive! Ha ha! If I didn't know any better I swear you got a guardian angel watching over you!" Fred shouted as he squeezed tighter.**

 **"Fred... can't... breath... losing... oxygen!" Walker wheezed out painfully as Fred finally comprehended what he said and let him go.**

 **"Heh, sorry kid. Just really happy to see you." Fred chuckled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.**

 **"Nice to see you." Amelia cracked a small smile before cleaning her sniper again.  
**

 **"You...too." Walker breathed out. Nash made his way to Walker and smacked him upside the helmet.**

 **"Ow! What the fuck Nash!" Walker said as he held the side of his helmet.**

 **"That's for using the mortars dumbass." Nash said sternly then sighed. "But otherwise it's good to have you back kid." He said.**

 **"I mean it was either the mortars or use the mulcher. The latter had no cover and I didn't want to get shot, so I decided to use the mortar." Walker explained. He looked around and noticed that everyone was looking at him with wide eyes.**

 **"What?" Walker asked.**

 **"Kid... look at your side." Fred said as he stared at the spot. Walker followed his gaze and looked towards his stomach, he placed a hand on it and brought it up to his face. His hand was stained red and he began to feel dizzy.**

 **"Oh... what the fuck?" Walker said slowly as his world spun and he fell on the ground.**

 **"Kid!" He heard Kelly scream before his world went black.**

 ** _(Camera feed off)_**

The girls gasped when they saw Walker raise his hand and saw that it was covered in blood. Blake held her breath when she saw Walker fall to the ground and then the camera feed cut off, her worry tenfold when she thought about when he must have gotten it.

"I know he's okay now but... how did he survive it?" Ruby asked worriedly.

"His medic on his team seemed to somehow tend to him." Ozpin reassured.

"But when did he get shot though? From what I've seen his armor seemed to protect him." Summer said.

"From what I'm guessing, it was when that tall one threw that grenade and shot him." Qrow said.

"By the way what is that grenade?" Taiyang asked making Ruby answer before anyone else.

"He said it was an ink grenade. When it explodes it releases a toxic ink that slowly poisons the target, he use one on the Deathstalker during his initiation." Ruby explained.

"He killed a Deathstalker?" Summer asked.

"Yeah, it was awesome. He had this big ass gun-" Yang started.

"Language." Summer interrupted.

"Sorry. And it killed the Deathstalker in one shot." Yang finished making everyone raise and eyebrow except Ozpin, Glynda, and RWBY.

"That can't be possible." Ironwood scoffed. Ozpin didn't say anything and just pulled up a video of Walker fighting the Deathstalker and killing it with the One Shot.

"The kid certainly has balls." Qrow complemented as he took a sip from his flask but noticed it was empty and sighed.

"While this is only the first battle, I must stop it here." Ozpin said.

"Why's that?" Taiyang asked.

"One, I can't stomach what is to come next right now. Two, the girls need to prepare for class tomorrow. Finally, there is something I must discuss with you all." Ozpin answered.

"Alright, come on guys. Let's go talk to Walker." Ruby said as she waved goodbye to everyone and entered the elevator. When the girls left Ironwood turned to Winter.

"I know you wish to catch up with your sister; you may do so." He said making Winter nod her head and leave the room. Ironwood turned back to the rest after Winter left.

"What do you have?" Ozpin asked Taiyang and Summer.

"We have more people missing from nearby settlements and gruesome murders happening to the ones with weapons found on them." Taiyang said.

"It's getting worse Ozpin. It's making a lot of negativity and it's drawing more grimm." Summer added.

"Anything else?" Ozpin asked.

"We've found holes in the ground, but when we tried to follow them down it always ends up a dead end." She said making Ozpin rub his head.

"This weekend I want you two to talk to Walker after we all meet again." Ozpin said.

"You think he has something to do with this?" Taiyang asked.

"I think he may know what's causing the disappearances." Ozpin said. Taiyang and Summer nodded before leaving the room.

"Qrow... what do you have?" Ozpin asked.

"She's been quiet. This isn't the quiet that's good or bad." Qrow said making Ozpin, Ironwood, and Glynda raise and eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" Glynda asked.

"She hasn't made any moves or done anything. She hasn't even sent her lackeys at anybody... something's not right." Qrow said as he rubbed his face. Ozpin rubbed the bottom of his chin and placed his fingers together.

"Good. See if you can find anything else." Ozpin ordered.

"Got it." Qrow said as he entered the elevator and left. Ironwood walked towards the elevator and waited for it to open.

"I will see if I can find something else." Ironwood said.

"Goodnight James." Ozpin said.

"Goodnight Ozpin. Glynda." Ironwood said.

"James." She said and watched him leave. She then turned to Ozpin and looked at him, never once had she seen him so stressed.

"Are you alright sir?" She asked.

"I'm fine Glynda, but I'm not so sure about Walker." He answered.

"I worry about him too." She said.

"He's doing this to keep what little he has left; that's why he's not telling anyone. He doesn't tell anyone because he feels like he'll become a liability." Ozpin said.

"He needs help, while I say it enough. He needs help; if he doesn't want it then I'll force it on him. Next time he is with us he's going to talk, even if it takes all night." Glynda said as she made her to the elevator.

"Glynda." Ozpin said but it fell on deaf ears as she closed the elevator. Ozpin, for the first time in a long time, cursed.

"Fuck." He breathed.

* * *

Walker sat in the dark room alone, with the light from the moonlight shining on his back. He rested his arms on his knees while carrying his knife in one hand and multiple COG tags in the other. He was so caught up in his thoughts he didn't hear voices outside the door until the door unlocked, even then he still had his head slumped down to make it look like he was sleeping.

"Walker... we know you aren't sleeping." He heard Blake say. He stood up slowly while putting the COG tags in his pocket and looked around to see the girls with worried expressions; Ruby walked up to him and slowly hugged him tightly before crying softly.

"Why didn't you tell us?" She cried quietly.

"... Because I didn't want you guys to worry about me." He answered. The other girls looked at him before joining in on the hug and staying like that.

"Walker... we're your friends. It's our job to worry about you." Weiss said as she hugged him from the side.

"Heh, I guess it is." He said quietly. The five stayed like that for a while before they let him go and sat down with him, gathering around.

"What... what was it like?" Ruby asked quietly.

"Imagine your worst nightmare coming to life; it's like all your fears coming to life to try and kill you. The experience was truly terrifying." He answered.

"That sounds awful." Yang said making Walker give a bitter laugh.

"Heh, that's how Sera was. Violent and awful, the luxury I had to live in." He chuckled making the girls frown a bit.

"Why do you laugh at this?" Blake asked.

"How far are you?" Walker asked.

"We only watched your first battle." She answered making Walker hum in response.

"Then you haven't experienced the worst part of it all then." He said making the girls eyes widen a bit.

"What do you mean the worst part? It already seemed like you experienced a nightmare through the single footage." Weiss said.

"Weiss the things I've fought makes the grimm look like puppies... You haven't seen when I was with Skorge." Walker said in a hollow tone.

"S-skorge?" Ruby asked fearfully.

"Another locust general... he's a complete fucking sadist." Walker cursed.

"Why?" Yang asked. Walker stared at her for a second.

 _'If I tell them what happened with Skorge then they'll never stop bothering me. If I don't tell them though they'll eventually see and worry even more about me... fucking hell, why did I give Ozpin that footage? Oh yeah, he said he'd provide me with a way home.'_ He thought before sighing.

"Yang the reason I have half these scars is because of him." Walker said somberly.

"W-what did he do?" Ruby asked.

"Skorge tortured me for a few days... he personally saw me as his torture toy. Something he wanted to savor as much as he could before he had to lead the locust." Walker said making the girls gasp. Ruby covered her mouth and let a few tears fall, Yang stared wide eyed and rubbed her eyes to get rid of any tears, Weiss covered her mouth with one hand, and Blake... she had the worst reaction of all them. She cried silently for a few minutes before sitting next to Walker and hugging him tightly, as if he would disappear at any moment. He was possibly the first guy she cared about more than her own life, he was the reason she didn't wear her bow as much.

"Why?" Blake cried. Walker wiped her tears away with a finger before answering.

"I was young and he saw me as a fragile object that needed as much as his _care_ as he could provide. His methods of torture are beyond human boundaries... I knew the locust were brutal but what he was doing wasn't brutal. It was sadistic and he knew it; I actually think the tall fucker got off on some of it." Walker said making the girls shudder. Walker heard another person enter the room and looked to see Winter enter the room.

"Hello Mr. Ronin." She said formally making Walker laugh a little.

"Oh come on now, I didn't think I was that old." He laughed lightening the mood a bit. "Just call me Walker, you don't need to act all informal with me." He added and gestured for her to take a seat. Winter pulled up a chair and sat in it while looking at Walker.

"I-" She started.

"You got some questions right." Walker interrupted making her nod. Sighing for the millionth time today, he nodded.

"How long were you at war with those locust?" She asked.

"My whole life, so basically 17 years. The emerged five weeks after I was born." He answered.

"Emerged?" Weiss asked.

"The locust didn't come from the skies like aliens, they came from the ground. They're a race of subterranean reptilian humanoids that have probably been around before the pendulum wars." Walker answered.

"Pendulum wars?" Blake looked up.

"We had a war before the locust emerged... lasted about 79 years and had five weeks of peace before emergence day." Walker explained; everyone's eyes widened at the information.

"Heh the female locust are worse." Walker laughed making the girls raise an eyebrow.

"Why's that?" Yang asked.

"For one. They're about ten feet tall, they have bullet proof skin, able to catch up to a speeding train, and have massive amounts of rage." Walker said making the girls eyes widen. "Yang; between you and the female locust, called the Berserker, I'd rather fight you any day of the week." Walker said making the girls laugh.

"What do they look like?" Winter asked. Walker thought a moment before telling Ruby something.

"Hey Ruby, can I have my journal back?" He asked her making her eyes widen.

"I d-don't know what you're talking about." She laughed nervously.

"Ruby I know you have it because I sometimes see you trying to open it at night when you think no one is looking." Walker said making her blush in embarrassment.

"Crap... I didn't think you noticed." She said; Walker just shook his head as Ruby grabbed his journal from the desk and gave it to him. He took off his COG tag and place it in the symbol, a series of clicks could be heard as the journal suddenly popped open. Walker began flipping pages until he got to the page of the Berserker and showed everybody. The girls gulped, even Winter, at the monstrosity before them; they could just feel the rage oozing off of the locust just by looking at the picture.

"I actually managed to kill two of them." Walker said making everyone stare at him with awe.

"How?" Weiss asked.

"You know that term kill it with fire?" He asked making Weiss nod. "That's literally what you have to do. You burn her armor until it's soft then hit it with everything you got; she'll still fight to the death though." He said. Walker flipped the page and frowned beneath his helmet as he stared at the picture of a Rift worm.

"What's that?" Ruby asked.

"A Rift worm." Walker seethed making the girls look at him worried, except Winter.

"What's so bad about it?" Yang asked.

"Imagine a worm that's 8-10 miles long and about a mile in width. It's capable of sinking entire cities in one feeding and has durable skin on the outside. It's what that fucker Skorge was going to use to sink my home." Walker spat. Blake's eyes widened as she hugged Walker tightly, which he returned.

"I've actually been inside it." Walker said surprising the girls. Everyone looked at him with those looks that wanted to know more.

"What was it like?" Ruby asked.

"Gross, slimy, and smelly. It smells like Cardin's breath." Walker said making the girls laugh. "But overall... terrifying. I hated being in that thing's stomach, just the air around you felt like death in a gas form; hell it's parasites inside were about the size of dogs." Walker said startling the girls. Noticing that he was beginning to frighten them he decided to tell the end of war instead.

"At the end of the war... Fred and Kelly actually got married. Amelia found some guy that saw her for the person she was inside. Granted it took a while after she got over... Nash." Walker choked a bit at the last part.

"And Nash?" Winter asked. Walker didn't say anything but fished in his pocket and brought out a COG tag and handed it to Winter; she carefully took it and inspected it. She was confused at first but then she began to piece it all together, he died before he could see the war's end.

"Died about a day before the war ended... He told me something. He told me after the war ended our team was going to celebrate the ending by him getting married... said I was going to be his best man. That was his final wish... and I fucked it up." Walker said somberly making the girls look at him.

"What do you mean?" Blake asked.

"I fucked up on something... I was about to get reprimanded but Nash took the blame for me. Said we have to stick together and look after each other... that's what brothers do. If only I was there instead of him then he would have gotten his final wish. It's my fault... I shouldn't have survived." Walker said making Ruby's eyes go wide. She finally understood why he said that; he was blaming himself for his best friend's death. Walker's eyes widened when he felt another person hug him and looked to his right and saw Ruby there, eventually Weiss and Yang joined in the group hug and held onto Walker tightly. Walker looked to see Winter standing there and prompted her to join in, which she refused.

"Come on and join. I've got space." He beckoned her, which she refused again. "It's either you join willingly or I come over there and make you." He added. Winter sighed and joined in on the group hug for a few minutes, it felt nice to say the least. She actually felt like she belonged here; so used to the cold environment of Atlas she was unaccustomed to the warmth of the hug that she was being given right now. The six stayed like this for few more minutes before they decided to disband the hug.

"Well that was... nice." Winter said to the side.

"Meh, I'm a nice guy. I'm a good teammate and friend but a beast on the battlefield." Walker shrugged making the girls roll their eyes while smiling. Winter smiled lightly before checking her scroll and sighing.

"Well, it seems my time is up. It has been a pleasure meeting you all, farewell everyone." Winter said as she began to make her way to the door.

"See you later Winter, and hey." Walker said getting her attention. "If you got any problems just know I might be able to help." Walker said.

"I'll take that into consideration." Winter smiled before leaving the room. Walker sighed and stood up locked his journal before placing it on the desk. As he turned around he lied down on the ground and closed his eyes. He opened them when he saw Blake in his right arm, Ruby in his left, Yang next to Blake, and Weiss next to Ruby; all four of them had their eyes closed.

"What are you guys doing?" He asked.

"We're sleeping with you tonight." Ruby said sleepily.

"Not that I'm complaining but why?" He asked.

"Ruby claimed that we're banishing the nightmares so what better way then to sleep with our teammate." Yang said making Walker's chest rise up and down quickly, startling the girls and making them look at him.

"Don't say it like that. You make it sound like we're having sex." Walker laughed. The girls' faces blushed immensely as they suddenly lied down on Walker and felt as his chest moved up and down in a slow rhythmic fashion, lulling them to sleep. It was quiet for a few minutes with the exception of the soft breathing of everyone, it was broken when Walker asked Blake a question.

"Hey Blake?" He asked.

"Yes?" She asked sleepily.

"If we had kids, would you have a single child or a litter like a cat?" He asked cheekily. Blake's eyes snapped open and she quickly sat up and looked at Walker with wide eyes, she blushed at him and quickly sputtered and answer.

"W-w-what?!" She stuttered. Walker laughed softly as she sputtered an incoherent answer before she blushed and huffed, setting her head down on his arm and falling asleep as fast as she could. Walker stayed up for a few more minutes and noticed that everyone had a really tight grip on him, making him immobile. He only had one problem with that.

.

.

.

He had to pee.

* * *

 **AN: Well holy shit! 14,945 words (minus this author's note) ! This is probably the longest chapter I've ever written. Anyways let's get down to the reviews.**

 **ILove Puncakes: For the Lancer, I used the crimson omen skin and for the Gnasher shotgun I used that one custom skin that has like a blue water like affect to it. You know the one I'm talking about, but other than that every other weapon is just the default skin; I'm going by the gears of war 3 weapon customization not gears of war 4.**

 **Guest: I'll start thinking of some spoof names for real life stores, but good job on the parodies of the real life stores. Kudos to you *Clap clap clap*.**

 **Digital Ph33rFan: Thank you for reviewing.**

 **On the other note thanks for reading and sticking with this story. When I first wrote this I was going to make Walker a complete badass with no weaknesses but then I said to myself "Okay, I actually have to give him some sort of weakness to make it seem like he's not invincible." so I decided to take the emotional and mental weakness route. He's physically strong yes but mentally and emotionally strong... not so much. As time progressed he began to feel the weight from all the war, including the ptsd, insomnia, survivor's guilt, and etc. The reason he constantly pushed people away is because he feels that if he let's them in then he'll end up getting them killed because of his actions (Something that will later be revealed). Blake didn't say anything to her teammates because she felt it wasn't in her position to tell them and Ozpin showed them because he found out Walker never told them, and gave him weeks to do so. Plus I wanted to go a little into Walker's experience during the war and see how everyone reacts, it was kind of fun to write.**

 **Another thing I want to discuss is why Summer rose is alive; one because I wanted her to be so fucking deal with it. Two, she and Taiyang are going to play a big role in Walker's life. Finally, I felt like writing a fanfiction in which Ruby and Yang don't lose their mom, because in all seriousness nobody should have to lose a parent in their life. It make me feel like shit when I hear that somebody's parent is gone and I still have both of mine; like one of my best friends lost his dad and it fucked him up for a minute. So yeah that's why Summer is alive.**

 **One last thing, I can't stress this enough. If you guys are going to write reviews, don't make them rude. It's unnecessary and fucking insulting to write an asshole review. Anyways thank you all and I'll catch you on the flip side, have a good one.**


	5. Chapter 5: Golden tournament

**AN: Hey there everybody, how ya'll doing today? I wanted to thank you all for sticking with this story and waiting patiently for the next chapter, but school comes first and I don't want to slack off this year. Anyways it's time for reviews.**

 **DigitalPh33rFan: Thanks, plus I couldn't disappoint my first reviewer.**

 **mteran305: They may be here or may not, only time will tell. Thanks for the review by the way.**

 **XCOMHEAVY12: You've impressed me with those two long reviews on my other story so thank you man.**

 **DarkSammich: Thanks man, and about more. Ask and ye shall recieve.**

 **Chaplion Of The West: At first I wasn't going that route but over time I was like "Eh what the hell? If it goes down that route then so be it."**

 **ThorZoid: There'll be plenty more.**

 **Guest: A cleansing flame shall sweep across this world of sins, the question is when will it happen?**

 **StelarToe6133: Hey that's the number password I used to log in today. Anyways, since you gave me an idea for the chapter then yes, plus I actually enjoy doing reactions. As for the Chainsword from Warhammer... I'll think about it before deciding. It'll probably be a weapon in the story but it won't be Walker's main weapon, for a couple of reasons. But if I do input it in the story then it'll be more of a power weapon than his main one.**

 **Killjoy1223: Thanks man, appreciate the support.**

 **I think that's it for all the reviews so without further adieu... Let's roll on with the fucking story!**

* * *

 **Morning:**

Everybody slept soundly except for Walker, who was trying his hardest not to piss himself. He locked himself in a rigid position to try and avoid any movement that may or may not make his bladder decide to release itself. He winced when Ruby lifted her head a bit before setting it back down and started to snore softly making him groan.

"Just... got... to... hold... it." He wheezed out. Frankly it wasn't that he didn't want to wake up the girls because he did; it was just that he couldn't move to do so. He slowly tried to raise his right arm but stopped when Blake tightened her grip on him making him stop and groan, he then tried to raise his left but had the same result when Ruby whined and tightened hers. He began to curse out loud and hit his head on the floor to generate some noise to wake at least one of them, it didn't seem to work since all of them appeared to be heavy sleepers. Racking up some ideas that seemed to make them wake up and release him; he thought about it for a minute before he found some things that always grabbed their attention.

"Yang I heard someone wants to cut your hair." He said making Yang bolt up and look around with red eyes.

"Who is it?! Who threatened to cut my hair?!" She screamed making the other girls wake up due to the shouting. She looked at Walker and noticed how frigid he was and became confused.

"Yang, no one wants to cut your hair. I just said that to wake you up so you could wake the others up." Walker wheezed out.

"Okay, but why didn't you wake us up before? And what's wrong with you, why do you look so tense?" Yang asked as her eyes changed back to lilac.

"I did, I tried waking you all up numerous times but for some odd reason you four sleep like a dead person; and I have to pee like really bad." Walker wheezed as he suddenly bolted up and ran for the bathroom. He unzipped his pants and let the built up urine from the previous day out, he let out a sigh of relief as he emptied his bladder before flushing the toilet. He washed his hands and stepped out of the bathroom before lying on the floor, he closed his eyes and began to drift off to sleep but was interrupted when Ruby sat sideways on his stomach.

"Walker wake up!" She shouted cheerfully making him groan.

"No." He said as he turned and took Ruby with him, she landed on her back and quickly got up and knelt beside his head.

"Why are you so tired?" She asked as she poked his helmet.

"I literally stayed up all night because I had to pee and I didn't feel like pissing on myself." He said sleepily.

"Wait, so you stayed up all night and didn't bother waking any of us up to tell us you had to?" Weiss asked as she sat on her bed.

"Mhmm." Walker hummed as he tried to go back to sleep. "Not to mention you four decided to use me as a giant teddy bear, literally you all slept next to me like we were all married." He joked making the girls blush in response.

"Well, anyways. We need to get ready for classes today." Blake said with a red face as she got out her uniform and put it on the bed.

"Uhhhhhh, this fucking sucks! I just want to sleep." Walker groaned. The girls sighed and began to enter the showers one by one letting Walker sleep on the ground. He slept for an hour before someone had to wake him up.

"Walker, get up." Blake said as she shook him.

"No." Walker said as he brushed her hand away.

"Yes." She said.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No. No. No."

"Yes. Yes. Yes."

"Says the kitty cat when she mates with someone she likes." Walker joked with his face in the floor.

"W-what?!" Blake shrieked with a red face. Walker began to snicker when Blake started sputtering an incoherent sentence and sat on her bed; he got up and stretched his sore muscles before popping his back. He twisted his neck and rotated it making loud painful cracks come from it, making the girls cringe at the sound. He took off his shirt and tossed it in the hamper before rubbing the back of his shoulder; the girls looked at his back and frowned a bit when they saw the numerous scars that littered it. Ruby turned her face away from one that looked like a giant stab wound near his spine, it sickened her to think that someone of his age had more scars than a veteran huntsman. Walker grabbed his uniform and entered the bathroom before closing the door, leaving the girls alone in the room that was basked in silence.

"...Does anyone want to talk about them." Yang asked as she rubbed her arm.

"What? The scars?" Ruby asked.

"...Yeah." Yang answered. Silence enveloped them for a few moments before Weiss answered.

"I know it's not our business but... should we at least ask?" She asked.

"I think we should give him some time, I mean we did make him relive terrible memories from a war with our questions." Blake said making the girls nod in response.

"FUUUCK! WHY IS THE WATER SO COLD?!" They heard Walker shout from the bathroom making them laugh a bit. Walker appeared out of the bathroom twenty minutes later with his uniform on but didn't have his tie, Weiss frowned and walked up to him.

"Where's your tie?" She asked with a stern expression while tapping her foot and looking up at him.

"In the bathroom." Walker answered.

"And why's it in the bathroom?" Weiss tapped her foot.

"I... uh... don't know how to tie one." Walker sheepishly rubbed the back of his helmet while looking away. Weiss expression softened before she marched in the bathroom and grabbed the tie and stepped in front of Walker.

"This is how you tie a tie." She said as she began to tie his tie, when she finally finished she pulled on it lightly to make sure it was on there secure. Walker fumbled with it a bit before smiling underneath his helmet.

"Heh, thanks princess." He said as lightly tapped her shoulder making her blush a bit and turn away.

"No problem." She said as she grabbed her books and walked out the door. Walker looked at her before looking at the other three and noticed they had stoic expressions, he walked in front of them and snapped his fingers, grabbing their attention.

"You three going to just sit there or am I going to have to carry you all?" He joked making the girls stand up and walk out the door. Walker just shook his head before grabbing his combat knife and journal before exiting the room and locking the door as he stepped out.

* * *

Port was rambling on about one of his great stories... again. While most would fall asleep or do other things than listen to the heavy set man's stories, Walker gave him his full attention; personally to him the stories were quite entertaining. Some of them seemed kind of far fetched and outrageous but most of his stories were actually true, though most didn't see it that way since Port always made it seem fake. Right now he was listening to the story about the Alpha Beowolf; Walker thought back to the one he had scarred, it made him ecstatic to think that he managed to make a creature of the night fear him.

"The mighty Beowolf had me cornered but he was no match for my strength! Ha ha!" Port laughed and looked into the crowd to see people either asleep or playing on their scrolls, he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before he caught sight of Walker looking at him. He had his doubts about the boy at first when he arrived, but he quickly proved to be one of his best students in the class. Never slept or did anything rude while Port was speaking, never horse played like some of the other students, and even answered some of his harder questions that even Weiss Schnee couldn't answer. He was so caught up in some of his thoughts he didn't notice Walker wave his hand to get his attention.

"Professor Port." Walker said catching the Burly man's attention.

"Yes my boy?" Port asked.

"I noticed a couple things missing from your tale." Walker said making Port raise an eyebrow.

"And what would that be?" Port asked making everybody look at Walker, who went unfazed about all the unwanted attention.

"You claimed earlier in the tale that you were passing by and saw a town being attacked by grimm. Now any other hunter no matter how good would have either killed the grimm in the town for a reward or simply passed by, but you didn't, did you? You slayed the grimm in the town and simply went on your way but you were stopped by the townsfolk, who tried to pay you for slaying the grimm. You declined when they tried to reward you and said "I'm a huntsman, not a mercenary. It's my job to protect the people of Remnant." What I'm trying to say professor is it takes more than strength to overcome your enemies, it takes integrity, perseverance, courage, and compassion to overcome them." Walker stated plainly as he propped his head on a hand. Port looked surprised for a second before smiling lightly and giving a light laugh.

"Well thank you for pointing out my flaws Mr. Walker." Port said and Walker just gave a quick nod before righting down some notes. Everybody turned to Walker as he continued to write down some notes and were about to ask questions but were interrupted when he spoke.

"I know you all have questions but can they wait for now?" He asked making everybody turn back to their original activities. The rest of the class and day went on normally, multiple people looked at Walker and had questioning looks on their faces, some of the girls sent him winks and approached him but left when RWBY arrived and sent them glares. The girls suddenly gripped Walker's arms and began to lead him to the lunchroom, much to his confusion. When they arrived he was suddenly sat down and trapped between all four of them, for the first time in a while he was nervous.

"Uh, girls?" Walker asked.

"Hmm?" Blake hummed while reading a book.

"Why are you all so possessive of me all of a sudden?" He asked as he opened his journal and looked at some of the locust he had drawn and took notes of.

"No reason." Yang said as she cracked her knuckles.

"I call bullshit on that." Walker said as he flipped the pages, making the girls lean over to try and look. They paled at some of the detailed drawings that they were looking at, some of these creatures looked worse than the grimm.

"I already know you have questions, so might as well spit them out. Just don't ask to many, I don't want some random person coming over here and asking." Walker said making them jump up in surprise.

"Why not?" Ruby asked.

"Because it's not any of their business and I don't trust anyone else but you four." Walker said as he stared at a drawing of a Ticker.

"What's that?" Yang asked as she looked at the drawing.

"A Ticker." Walker answered.

"What rolls did they play?" Weiss asked.

"Locust used them as living landmines. One or two isn't so bad as long as you catch them at a distance, but multiple ones are a threat; they actually took out an assault truck once." Walker said making the girls shudder.

"How do you know they're coming?" Blake asked.

"They usually make this scuttling noise when they run and scream at you when they're closing in." Walker said as he turned the page to see a drawing of a Kantus.

"I remember that one in the video." Ruby said.

"That's a Kantus, they're smart fuckers. They wield a fully automatic pistol and can heal nearby locust." Walker said as he turned the page to come across a picture of RAAM. His grip tightened a bit before relaxing as he stared at the ten- foot tall Drone that held a permanent scowl on his face; the girls blanked at the picture of the monstrosity before them.

"W-who's that?" Ruby asked fearfully as she stared at the imposing picture of the general.

"That's RAAM, he was one of the top generals of the locust. Ten feet tall, intimidating as hell, can control kryll, and managed to almost cripple the COG." Walker listed off stoically.

"How?" Yang asked.

"He basically started killing high ranking Gears, which broke everyone's moral. For some odd reason to me I actually had a tiny amount of respect for him, at least with him his victims died quickly. For that tiny reason I based my combat knife off of his design. I actually saw him flip an entire car with one hand... hell he even broke through a fucking concrete barrier with his foot." Walker exclaimed making the girls shake.

"What are kryll?" Weiss asked. Walker didn't say anything but flipped a few pages and pulled up a drawing of one. The girls had different reactions: Ruby hid behind Walker, Weiss gulped, Blake's grip on her book tightened, and Yang went wide eyed at the sight of the nightmare fuel before her.

"That's a kryll. Basically man-eating bats that will strip the flesh off your bones before you can even try to swat them away; I remember one night I had to go on patrol with my team in the woods when we encountered them... they were everywhere. In the trees, abandoned houses, the sky... all over the driver." Walker shuddered as he looked ahead blankly. "Never had I been so terrified of the dark in my life till that night in the woods. They tore that man apart in a span of a few seconds and I couldn't do anything about it... but fucking watch as he was torn apart. His screams still haunt my dreams sometimes." Walker said as he placed a hand on his helmet and shuddered a bit. The girls looked at Walker and placed their hands on his making him look at them; he looked at them for a few seconds before smiling underneath his helmet and pulling them into a hug.

"You know you girls banish the darkness that's in me right?" Walker asked making the girls look at him.

"Really?" Yang asked.

"Yeah, you four do. Now come on I'm bored and I want to lift some weights." Walker said as he picked them up, making them yelp in surprise before walking out the door with them.

* * *

 **In the gym:**

"Walker why are we here?" Weiss asked as she looked around.

"Because I want to lift weights and we're not doing anything. Blake don't you dare." Walker warned as he looked in Blake's direction making her stop dead in her tracks as she reached for the door. Blake cursed under her breath as she marched back up to him and sat down on one of the benches.

"Now, who's ready to lift?!" Walker exclaimed making RWB jump.

"I am!" Yang shouted.

"Hell yeah! Let's do it then!" Walker shouted as he gave Yang a high five. Ruby, Weiss, and Blake looked uncomfortable as they watched Walker put on three 45's and a 25 on the bar before taking off his shirt and lying on the bench. He breathed a bit before lifting the bar off the rack and lowered it down to his chest before lifting it back up and continued this process with Yang as his spot. Blake, Ruby, and Weiss stared at Walker's figure as he lifted the weights and began to blush the longer they stared; Blake drooled a bit as she stared at him and so did Ruby. Weiss tried to look away but her gaze always was drawn back to it and when it did her face always took the shade of Ruby's cloak. Walker signaled for Yang to grab assist him with putting the bar back on before sitting up on the bench and rotating his shoulders, he stood up and went behind Yang as she lied down on the bench and put her hands on the bar. He lifted the bar a bit to assist her before placing his hands in his pockets and watching Yang lift.

"Lower." Walker said out of the blue.

"What?" Yang asked as she looked up at him.

"You're not going low enough, it's supposed to almost touch your chest." Walker instructed. Yang did what he said and found it a bit difficult, she struggled a bit the more times she lifted and had trouble with the last one. Walker laughed a bit before he grabbed the bar and assisted Yang with putting it back on the rack, Yang rotated her arms and stretched before standing up.

"Holy crap, why's it so difficult to lift?" Yang asked as she shook her arms.

"You weren't going low enough. I saw that you were going half way, so tip for the future, go down to your chest. Other than that good job." Walker praised as he lightly tapped Yang's arm, making her blush a bit.

"Thanks." She said. Ruby, Weiss, and Blake looked at the interaction between the two and looked at themselves before coming to a decision.

"H-hey Walker?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah?" He asked as he turned around.

"Can we try?" She asked.

"Don't see why not. I pretty much brought you three here so we could all spend time together." Walker said as he went to the sides of the bar. "How much you want?" He asked.

"Umm, can you put it on 25 please?" Ruby asked.

"Yep." Walker said he adjusted the weights. "There you go. Alright Ruby, when you're lifting you want to have it close to your chest before lifting back up." He instructed, making her nod. Ruby slowly and shakily lifted the bar before slowly lowering it down to her chest and raising it back up and lowering it again. She did about eight reps before she almost dropping the bar on herself but Walker caught it before it could impact her chest and set it back on the rack.

"I'm uh... not that strong." Ruby sheepishly said while rubbing the back of her neck.

"Don't worry about it, we all have to start somewhere. Plus you're not that weak if you can wield a big ass scythe with ease." Walker praised and tapped Ruby's shoulder making her smile in response. Weiss walked up to the bench and frowned a bit, something Walker noticed.

"What?" He asked.

"Do you know how many germs are on that bench after you three have been on it." Weiss said making Walker roll his eyes.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad." Walker said making Weiss give him the same expression. "Fine you don't have to lift if you don't want to." He added as he grabbed a nearby towel and wiped off the bench. Blake pushed past Weiss and sat on the bench.

"How much you want?" Walker asked.

"35." Blake just said. Walker loaded up the weights and went behind Blake to spot her, he noticed how she seemed to do this with relative ease and raised an eyebrow.

"Stop." He said suddenly.

"What?" Blake asked as she looked up to see Walker go towards the weights.

"You did more than ten reps, if you can do ten than it's to light." Walker informed as he replaced the 35 with a 45 and told Blake to lie down. Blake lifted the bar and lowered it down to her chest and raised it before lowering it again, each time became harder and harder to lift and when she reached her eight rep, she signaled for Walker to assist her. Blake stood up and stretched out before sighing out in relief as she popped her shoulder.

"I think we should go." Walker said.

"Why?" Ruby asked.

"I can hear people coming and I don't like those type of guys that try to show off by seeing how much they can lift." Walker said as he walked towards the door but was stopped when Cardin and his team stepped in.

"Well, Well, Well, if it isn't the 'mysterious' soldier boy. Coming to see how much you can lift?" Cardin mocked making Walker roll his eyes and the girls send Cardin a glare.

"No, I was sitting in here jerking myself off." Walker said sarcastically.

"You getting smart with me?" Cardin said as he stepped closer to Walker, who didn't even flinch back.

"I mean, I am pretty smart and I do have an A- in Oobleck's so... yeah I could say I am getting smart with you." Walker stated nonchalantly making Cardin's face grow red with anger.

"You trying to start something?" Cardin shot.

"No, I'm trying to get by but you're fat ass is blocking the doorway." Walker said as he looked at Cardin and saw that he had his armor on. "And why the hell do you have your armor on?" He asked making Cardin look down.

"It's so I can lift more and in case I drop it then I'll be protected." Cardin said as he tapped his chest plate.

"No, you're going to try to lift something you can't and pull or possibly tear a muscle because you can't get it through that dumb bird skull of yours that you shouldn't lift something you can't because it could damage your body." Walker informed making Cardin growl under his breath.

"You little fucking bitch!" Cardin said as he threw a punch but gasped in pain as he felt an open palm hit him in the nose. Walker looked at the rest of the team who stood in battle stances before grabbing his serrated edge combat knife and flipping it in the air a couple of times making them gulp a bit.

"See here's the thing about you Cardin that really pisses me off, it's not the fact that you're a racist, dumb, fucking piece of shit, but the fact that you think you're top dog around here." Walker said kneeling down to Cardin's level and grabbing his collar, and placing his knife next to his ear. "In this oh so grand world we live in, there is no top dog. Now it may be survival of the fittest but there is no top dog and you thinking you're it makes me want to puke." Walker said as he threw Cardin into a nearby bench. Walker walked towards the door with the girls before stopping and looking at Cardin one last time.

"If I catch you picking on Velvet again, I'll tear your ears off and shove them so far up your ass you'll be hearing your stomach acids swish around." Walker threatened and marched out of the weight room.

* * *

 **Later on:**

The five were currently eating dinner and having a conversation about the final round of the Vytal festival that would take place in tomorrow. Apparently, which ever member of the teams completes it wins.

"Walker you should do it." Ruby said as she ate some spaghetti.

"Why?" He asked as he tilted his helmet up a bit to eat his burger.

"Because you're like the best fighter against the grimm." Ruby answered.

"I'm hurt Ruby." Yang said in a mock hurt voice making Ruby roll her eyes.

"Come on! If we win this then I'll make you something cool." Ruby begged as she hugged his arm.

"I agree with Ruby, if we win this then we'll get you something." Weiss said as she ate her salad.

"And what is this something?" Walker asked.

"It's a surprise." Blake said.

"That's not reassuring... and why can't any of you do it?" Walker asked. The girls looked a bit sheepish and rubbed the back of their necks.

"We already went. Don't be mad... but we kind of signed you up already." Yang said making Walker stop eating, his helmet dropped and he let go of his burger.

"So you're telling me I don't really have much of a choice." Walker said without much emotion in his voice. The girls shuddered at his lack of emotion.

"Y-yes?" Ruby said in an unsure voice.

"Goddammit, fine I'll do it." Walker sighed as he began eating his burger again.

"Are you mad at us?" Ruby asked worriedly.

"I'm agitated that you didn't ask me first but I'm not mad." Walker said as he finished his burger and leaned back on his seat. Silence enveloped the five before Ruby spoke up.

"Our parents are going to be watching, so try not to do anything inappropriate in front of them." Ruby informed making Walker raise an eyebrow.

"When have I ever done anything inappropriate?" He asked making the girls think.

"You've never really done anything inappropriate." Weiss said.

"See? I may flirt around but I haven't done anything inappropriate." Walker reassured as he stood up and stretched before collecting everybody's trays and returning them to the lunch lady. They exited the cafeteria and walked back to the dorm room; on the way there they encountered two people that Walker hadn't met yet.

"Hey girls." The blonde haired boy greeted.

"Hey Sun." They greeted back. Sun looked at Walker and looked him up and down before sticking out his hand.

"What's Up dude. I'm Sun." Sun greeted.

"I'm Walker." Walker said as he shook Sun's hand. Sun winced when Walker grabbed and shook his hand in a bone crushing grip, he whipped his hand back and forth to try and shake away the pain. The blue haired boy made his way over to Walker and shook his hand before addressing the girls.

"Hey ladies." He flashed a smile at them.

"Hey Neptune." They greeted back smiling. Walker's scroll buzzed and he looked at it before frowning a bit when he saw Ozpin's message; the girls and SN looked at him curiously before Walker put his scroll in his pocket.

"Hey, I got to go." Walker said.

"Where?" Ruby asked.

"Ozpin wants to talk to me about something." He said.

"What's it about?" Neptune asked.

"Something." Walker just said making Neptune frown internally.

"That's kind of suspicious." Sun said.

"Because it's none of your business." Walker just said. SN stared at Walker and he just stared back at them with a neutral expression, tension began to escalate between the three fast making the girls intervene.

"I think it's time to... do some team bonding!" Ruby said quickly making them snap out of their staring contest. Walker went up to the girls and whispered in their ears.

"Make sure they stay out of my things." He informed making them nod, before he walked away from them. Silence seemed to cover the air around the two teams before Neptune spoke up.

"He seems kind of... creepy." He said making the girls throw him a small glare.

"He's not." Ruby said.

"He totally is, I mean who wears a helmet all the time and looks like they're prepared to go into war." Neptune said making the girls wince at the last part.

"Plus he's covered in scars, Ozpin wants to talk to him about something, and he said make sure we don't go into his stuff. He's hiding something." Sun added making the girls frown. They continued to talk about how suspicious Walker was and that he shouldn't be their teammate. Ruby eventually had enough of them talking bad about Walker and stormed past them making the boys confused.

"Did we say something?" Neptune asked making Weiss scoff.

"Are you kidding me? You two were disrespecting our teammate as if he was some sort of freak." Weiss scoffed and brushed past him.

"Snowflake wait-" Neptune said making Weiss whip around.

"Don't call me that. You lost your chance when you talked about Walker." She hissed and stormed off.

"Congratulations you two, you managed to piss everybody off." Yang said sarcastically as she brushed past them. Sun and Neptune looked at Blake who stared at them with slits in her eyes.

"Blake-" Sun reached out only to recoil when she slapped his hand away.

"Don't Sun. You want to know something about Walker, hmm? He faced more discrimination, turmoil, and pain than both of us combined, he's also the first human to ever look past the fact that I'm a faunus and actually care about me more than my team." She said looking at Sun then at Neptune. "He's also doesn't flirt with every girl he sees, and he actually cares about Weiss' well being. Unlike you, he's a respectable well mannered young man not some pretty boy who tries to get into the pants of every girl he meets before getting to know them. So before any of you decide to throw your opinions about him, you should at least get to know him." Blake said as she walked away from them, leaving the two crestfallen.

* * *

 **Dorm room:**

The girls sat in the dorm room agitated at how the night turned out. Blake fumed at how Sun really turned out to be while Weiss was ranting about Neptune and his opinions about Walker; Ruby sat quiet with a small scowl on her face and Yang was angrily playing a game on her scroll, tapping the buttons on the screen with so much force it threatened to crack the hand held device. They were so caught up in their activities that they didn't notice two people come in, until one of them spoke up.

"Is this a bad time or..." The person trailed off. Ruby looked the direction and scowled before realizing who it was and softening her look.

"Hi mom. Hi dad." She said and went back to doing her activity. Summer and Tai frowned and went up to Ruby.

"What's up kiddo?" Tai asked making Ruby sigh.

"What do you two think about Walker?" Ruby asked.

"I mean, I had my doubts about him when I first met him. But after watching what he went through my opinion changed." Tai answered.

"He's nice, doesn't seem like a well mannered young man at first glance but otherwise he's nice." Summer answered truthfully. She noticed Ruby's shoulders dip down a bit and grew concerned.

"What happened?" Summer asked making Yang answer.

"Two idiots decided to talk crap about Walker behind his back." She fumed.

"Why?" Tai asked.

"Because he said he needed to talk to Ozpin and wouldn't tell the two what it was about." Yang answered.

"What does it matter to them?" Tai asked.

"It doesn't! We didn't even bother asking Walker because we knew it wasn't any of our business." Yang exclaimed as she raised her arms. Summer noticed a journal on the desk and picked it up, she inspected it and noticed that there's a cog symbol on it. She showed the journal to Taiyang and he looked at it in curiosity.

"What's this?" He asked the girls.

"That's Walker's journal. It contains everything he logged down during the war." Blake answered.

"He needs to be here to open it though." Weiss added.

"Why?" Summer asked.

"His COG tag around his neck acts as a key to it." Ruby said.

"I thought that was his dog tag though?" Taiyang asked.

"I mean it is, but it also acts as a key too." She said. The door opened and everybody looked to see Walker enter with a bit of blood on his hands, he looked around and sighed before entering the bathroom and washing his hands. He looked around and saw that everybody was looking at him.

"I can already tell you have questions." He sighed.

"Kid, why do you have blood on your hands?" Tai asked.

"Cardin and his team tried to attack me because I embarrassed them earlier, well minus Cardin because he's in the infirmary for a torn muscle." Walker answered. He lied down on the ground stared up at the ceiling making Summer and Taiyang look at him.

"You don't have a bed?" Summer asked.

"Nope, don't really need one either. And I don't sleep with any of the girls because that would lead to confusion when I tell people I sleep in the room with them." Walker answered, he noticed that his journal was in Summer's hand and was about to yell at her but just sighed instead.

"I'm not trying to be an asshole but... why do you have my journal?" Walker asked Summer. She looked at him then at the journal before rubbing the back of her neck.

"Well..." She trailed off.

"We have some questions." Tai said bluntly making Walker sigh.

"Never knew I was the hot spot for questions." He said making everybody laugh a bit. "Alright, shoot." He said.

"What's inside besides stuff from the war?" Taiyang asked.

"Personal notes and reminders." Walker answered while tossing his knife above his head and catching it before it could impact his helmet.

"Anything else?" Tai asked.

"Notes on how to kill the various locust." Walker said, although it had drawings of a lot of the locust, it didn't have everything.

"Can we see what they're like?" Summer asked. Walker sat up and gestured for her to give him his journal; he took off his COG tag and placed it in the symbol. A series of clicks could be heard before the journal suddenly popped open, he handed the journal back to Summer who gently took it and looked through it with Tai. Both of them looked shocked and disturbed at how many creatures there were and how many of them could do so much damage, Summer even covered her mouth with her hand when she looked at a picture of a heart leech. Walker placed his hands behind his head and lied down on the ground again, he heard the parents sit down and the girls gather around them to look into the journal.

"Walker?" Ruby called.

"Hmm?" He hummed.

"What does Skorge look like?" She asked making him open his eyes before sighing.

"Page 43-47. It's all the information about him." Walker just said and turned to so he was lying on his shoulder. He heard pages being flipped and someone gasp; he sighed and walked out of the room leaving everybody in the room.

"O-oh my Oum." Summer said as she looked at a picture of Skorge and the description below, she almost cried when she saw the personal note of what he had wrote.

 _"I escaped the torture barge! I finally got out of hell itself! He can't hurt me anymore... he can't... he... Oh god, what have I done? How can I just act like I'm fine when I'm not? I can't get rid of it. I can't get rid of the pain that's festering in my mind like an infected wound. I'm alone and no one's helping me go through this storm that rages inside my mind. It's to much, it's to much, it's to much, it's to much... it's-"_ The writing suddenly stopped when it looked like it was smudged. Blake cried as she thought about the pain that Walker must have gone through to write this, she also felt a deep tear in her heart knowing he had to deal with this alone. She knew he went through pain but this... this is to much for her to handle. Taiyang and Summer stood up and put the journal back on the shelf, they walked towards the door.

"Where are you guys going?" Ruby asked.

"We're going to talk to your teammate." Summer said.

"You aren't going to do anything to him right?" Yang asked.

"No we're not. Any other boy yes, but him... no." Taiyang reassured and walked out the room. The girls sat in the room in silence, mulling over the words that were written in the journal before shuddering.

"Should we do what we did with Walker yesterday?" Ruby asked.

"Yep." The other girls agreed and went back to their personal activities. Yang suddenly perked up when she thought about what Ruby said.

"Hey Ruby?" Yang asked.

"Yeah?" Ruby asked back.

"You just want to sleep with Walker again don't you?" Yang grinned.

"W-what?! N-no it's just that h-he needs us and..." Ruby tried to explain while blushing. Yang laughed and went back to playing her game.

* * *

 **On the balcony:**

Walker stared at the broken moon in the night sky and rubbed his helmet. He put both of his hands on it and removed it from his head, staring at it. No matter how much shit it's been through, it always looks new and improved, granted it still has some scrapes in it but otherwise still in good condition. He brought it up to his face and stared at the two eye ports that didn't glow.

"I still remember when I first got you." He spoke to it. "I thought you were the most unimpressive helmet out there and damn near discarded you. I was offered a chance to be an onyx guard and take their badass gear... but that meant I would probably never see my family and friends again. Heh, glad I chose you instead because you saved my life more times I can count and I'm thankful for that." Walker said as he put the helmet back over his head and relaxed when he felt the familiar feeling when he put it on. Silence took over and he relaxed a bit while staring at the night sky, his vision suddenly went hazy for a minute and he found himself in a desolate land that reeked of despair and helplessness.

"What the fuck was that?" He asked himself as he shook his head. He heard the balcony door open and tensed up before cursing underneath his breath when he heard who it was.

"Before you ask me if I'm alright, don't." He cut off the person before they could ask the famous question. The two people leaned on either side of him and just stared at the moon with him, enjoying the silence.

"So what can I do for you two?" Walker asked.

"We wanted to discuss something with you?" Tai said.

"What is it?" Walker asked.

"We wanted to know if you'd want to investigate something with us this weekend." Summer said as she looked at Walker, who looked right back.

"I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but what do I have to do anything with it?" Walker asked.

"Ozpin said it might have something to do with what we're investigating." Summer answered.

"And that is?" Walker asked.

"We've been coming across people missing from nearby villages and murders happening to people with weapons found on them." Tai informed.

"Anything else?" Walker asked. While he probably wouldn't go with them, what's the harm if he did.

"There's been holes in the ground at every site we investigate, but when we try to follow them we always come up with a dead end." Summer added making Walker's grip on the railing tighten. His grip eventually became noticeable when the railing began to creak and groan before snapping off, startling Summer who yelped in surprise.

"Where?" Walker asked stoically

"Do you know something we don't?" Tai asked.

"I might have an idea..." Walker said without emotion. "When's the next time you investigate?" He asked.

"Saturday." Tai said.

"...I'll be there." Walker said before sighing. "Fuck, I don't want to go back to the room." He said.

"Why?" Summer asked.

"Because I know the girls are going to jump me as soon as I enter." He sighed making Summer and Tai laugh.

"Yeah laugh it up, because I'm the one getting hugged to death." Walker stated sarcastically.

"Who's the one that hugs you the most?" Summer laughed.

"Ruby and Blake. Ruby literally hugged me so tight I felt one of my ribs crack and Blake squeezed me so tight I couldn't breath." Walker said. Summer couldn't stop giggling while Tai couldn't stop chuckling, making Walker chuckle a bit.

"I think Yang has the scariest hug though." Walker said making them stop laughing and look at him curiously. "She doesn't hug me, she tackles me to the ground and suffocates me." He shuddered making the two adults laugh again. Walker smiled and said his goodbyes before leaving the roof. Summer and Taiyang smiled at him as he left and looked at the moon together, they heard a commotion in a nearby window and got at an angle to see what is was. They laughed when they saw Walker maneuver around the girls while having his hands in a surrendering position before he was suddenly tackled to the ground.

"Goddammit!" They heard him scream and thrash around before finally succumbing to the sleeping pile. Blake got up and turned off the lights before closing the window and lying down back in her spot closest to Walker and falling asleep; Summer and Tai laughed a bit and stared at the moon before going back to their temporary room and turning in for the night.

* * *

 **The next day:**

Walker was currently on his way towards the Amity Colosseum, needless to say he was kind of pissed off. First the girls didn't want to get up, then he couldn't find his picture of Ajay and him, and lastly he sat next to Nora.

"Hey Mr. Robot man! Whatcha up to?" She asked loudly.

"Trying to get some rest before the match." He answered.

"Oh I see, trying to get some rest?" She repeated what he said in a questioning tone. Walker face palmed his helmet and sighed in annoyance before turning to her.

"Yes I am." He answered with annoyance clearly in his voice. Nora began to ask more questions but stopped when Walker held his Boomshot in her face.

"See this?" He asked making her nod. "This is my Boomshot. If you let me rest, then I'll let you hold it for the rest of the ride there. Be careful though, because if you break it, I'll never let you hold it again... got it?" He asked making Nora quickly nod before gently holding it and drooling over it. Walker closed his eyes but opened them when he felt like somebody was looking at him.

"What?" He asked.

"How did you do that?" Ren asked.

"Get her to stop talking? Easy, just do what I do to Ruby. Put a weapon in front of them and tell them if they break it then they'll never see it again." Walker explained making Ren grip his shoulders and look him in the visor.

"Please let me borrow one of them." Ren pleaded.

"Nora getting out of hand?" Walker chuckled making Ren nod quickly. Walker chuckled a bit before pulling out his torque bow and letting Ren see it. "This is my torque bow, fires an explosive bolt that'll stick to a target when charged up, and whatever you do. Don't break it, because if you do then I'll never help you again." He warned. Ren tried to grab it but Walker snatched it away from him and gestured after the tournament. He entered the Colosseum and was immediately the center of attention for numerous viewers, much to his annoyance; he brushed past them and made his way to the armory.

"So are you the one that's going to take on the grimm round?" A person asked.

"Do you think you'll be injured?" Another asked.

"What weapons are you going to use?" Another person asked.

"Are we ever going to see your face?" Yet another person asked. The questions kept going on and on as he walked towards the armory, making Walker scowl a bit underneath his helmet before sighing and addressing the people behind him.

"Look, I know you all have questions but I'd like to meet up with my team and get this round over with. So may I go meet up with them now?" He asked the numerous people making them nod in response. He disbanded from the crowd and made his way towards the armory humming to himself; he bumped into someone on his way there.

"Oh shit, my bad." He apologized and continued to his way to the armory... something felt off. Walker patted himself down and felt his COG tag missing from around his neck, he stood stock still before chuckling darkly to himself.

"Heh heh heh, ohhh motherfucker." He laughed before going back into the crowd.

* * *

Emerald smiled as she blindly robbed another bystander, that made three today. She looked behind her and saw no one was following her before she dipped into a dark corner near the bathrooms; she looked in her hand and frowned when all she saw was a cog.

"This is all that idiot had?" She cursed as she stared at the cog in her hand. She was suddenly grabbed and brought deeper into the shadows, away from anyone that could hear her; her mouth was covered with a large hand and a serrated edge combat knife was placed against her throat making her eyes go wide. She struggled a bit but stopped when the knife started to make a tiny incision in her neck and draw a tiny amount of blood.

"You know it's rude to take other people's toys. Do try not to struggle, this knife cuts through aura like butter and I'm kind of saving it for the massacre in the stadium." A deep voice echoed next to her ear, making her shudder. She tried screaming to gain somebody's attention but stopped when the hand forced her to look up at the attacker. Her eyes widened a bit when all she saw was glowing blue port holes that seemed to stare into her tainted soul, while it stared at her she didn't notice the cog in her hand leave it.

"I typically don't enjoy extortion for something that's mine but hey, what's the harm?" The attacker asked as it let her go. She got into a battle stance and took in the attacker's features; male with darkened skin like her's, golden helmet with soul piercing glowing blue eye holes, muscular, tall, and had an intimidating aura that made her shudder in response. Emerald stayed in her battle stance and tried to use her semblance to make him feel like he was outside but stopped when he gave no reaction, he just stood there while sheathing his combat knife.

"Uh, you know I can still see you right?" He asked, shocking her.

"How?" She growled.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I didn't come here looking for a fight?" He said lightheartedly trying to make her lower her weapons, which didn't seem to be working.

"Then what did you come here for?" She asked as she aimed her revolvers at him which seemed to make him tense before laughing.

"My fucking property." He said in a suddenly serious tone making her tense and back up as he approached; his footsteps seemed to make a menacing echo with each step. Her heart suddenly started beating faster the closer he got and she almost fired her gun but stopped when she saw him hold out a lien card in front of her.

"I'm Walker." He introduced himself as he held out the lien card; Emerald tried to grab it from him but was a second to late when he quickly snatched it away from her. "I do believe it's your turn to introduce yourself." He said.

"Fine... Emerald Sustrai. Happy?" She asked making Walker smile behind his helmet.

"...No I'm not. Now answer me this Emerald." He said making her raise an eyebrow before she suddenly found herself pinned to a wall and a combat knife next to her left eye.

"Tell me why you decided to try and rob me. And you better not lie, because if you do then I'll take those pretty little eyes of yours and gobble them up." He said happily making her shake; she tried to put on a brave face but eventually gave up the longer she stared into the soul piercing gaze of the helmet.

"I needed to make a quick buck for my team." She said.

"Bullshit." Walker said as he pressed the knife closer to her eye making her panic. "One more and it goes in." He threatened as the knife was a few inches from her eye.

"Okay! I just wanted to." She said. Walker stared at Emerald for a few seconds before letting her go suddenly, making her hit the ground. He knelt down to her level and stared into her red eyes with disappointment.

"I don't see a huntsman in training. I see a scared little girl trying to survive, but here's the thing I noticed when you told that bullshit lie. What kind of scared little girl would try to frame one of my teammates or hurt one of my friends? You see, I noticed something when your stupid ass boy toy was fighting Yang, he was smiling. No one smiles during a fight unless they enjoy it or are planning something and frankly he didn't seem to be enjoying it." Walker said as he stood up and glared down at Emerald.

"I don't even see a huntress in training, I see a little thief trying to get over on somebody and is nothing but another's bitch. You could have been a respectable young woman that had a great future but you squandered it when you hung out with the wrong crowd... Stay away from my team because if you don't then I'll destroy everything you love." Walker said as he turned away but stopped and looked back at Emerald. "Not that you had much to begin with." He laughed as he watched her head droop down. He didn't say anything else but turned and walked away, but not before leaving something behind; Emerald looked down at the ground and rubbed her eyes a bit before she noticed something on the ground. She saw a note and saw a few lien cards attached to it, she was about to discard it but noticed it was addressed to her in neat hand writing.

 _"Dear Emerald,_

 _I noticed a few days back that you and your stupid ugly boy toy tried to frame my teammate. That's your first mistake, your second one is that you would try to rob me and think you could get away with it; your third is that you tried to fight me... people usually end up dead when they do. Now I could go into a whole rant about your sad story that I don't know shit about and that I probably won't care about but that's not why I'm here. I'm here to tell you that you can still change, be the better woman that others could see you as. I may not be the one to change your life because I have no power over you but I can be the one to at least give you an option to choose the right path and be better. It's your choice if you take it or not, by the way here's about a hundred lien. Go buy something nice since your silver haired boy toy won't._

 _An anonymous gear head."_

Emerald scoffed at the note and took the lien before placing it in her pocket. She walked to the trashcan and was about to throw the note in but stopped when she thought about what she read. Had she gone down the wrong path following Cinder and Mercury? While she only followed Cinder because she had nothing else and she only followed Mercury because he was a skilled fighter, but what about her? She was skilled at fighting, yes but in the end all she'll ever be is that scared homeless little girl who had to steal to survive. She brushed it off as an empty promise and walked out of the shadows, she noticed that the hallways was empty and everybody seemed to be entering the stadium to find a seat. She looked at the note in her hand and clenched it tightly before folding it and putting it in her pocket while walking towards the stands.

* * *

Walker entered the armory and laughed at how much he scared Emerald, he knew something was off about her team when they talked to Ruby and them. Their smiles, speech, and attitude seemed forced; like they were hiding something from everybody. He also noticed how when Yang fought against Mercury she seemed to be trying to defend herself, but he almost lost it when he lied and said that Yang attacked him first and faked an injury. When Yang was taken into custody and was about to be trialed, he was there to defend her; through his recording in his helmet he presented solid evidence to have her name cleared, thus letting the team continue in the tournament. Though none of that mattered at the moment, because he was currently trying to choose a weapon but couldn't since Ruby wouldn't let go of his sawed-off.

"Ruby." He said.

"No! I won't let you take it away." She exclaimed while holding the shotgun with a iron grip.

"Ruby I'm going to be late if I don't have my weapon." He stated.

"Why can't you use your other shotgun?" She asked.

"Because I haven't used the sawed-off in a while and I want to use it." Walker said as he grabbed the shotgun and Ruby's head, trying to pry her away from it.

"No!" She screamed and tightened her grip.

"Dammit Ruby! Let me have my sawed-off!" He shouted and tried to pry her away. He noticed that his team was staring at him. "Are you guys just going to stand there?!" He shouted.

"Pretty much." Yang said as she leaned on a locker. The timer hit five minutes making Walker shout a string of curses and grab another weapon. He let go of Ruby and grabbed his Retro Lancer, Long shot, snub pistol, some frag grenades Ruby had made for him, and his combat knife. He saw his One-shot in a storage container and walked up to it, he stared at it for a few seconds before shutting the container and locking it to prevent any theft from happening. He walked past his team and shot them a glance, they smiled at him in return and gave a thumbs up as he exited the armory.

* * *

 **In the Colosseum:**

Walker stepped out into the middle of the Colosseum and looked around to see hundreds of thousands of people cheering for him; he gave them all a two fingered salute before spotting his team and the parents, he gave them a thumbs up. Walker stretched and rotated his arms before bouncing a little bit to get the blood flowing in his legs, he suddenly looked in the direction when Port's voice came on.

"Ha ha! Welcome back ladies and gentlemen to the final round of the Vytal festival! We have a special person here today competing in the grimm challenge, a challenge that no one dares to try! Normally there would be a team of at least two, but since this young lad was an extra member of his team he decided to participate by himself." Port exclaimed making everybody in the crowd cheer and gasp.

"Right, there will be three specifications classes of grimm: C-class, which are your regular Beowolf and Ursa. B-class, which are you older Alpha Beowolves, Deathstalkers and Ursa majors. And finally A-class, which consist of Beringels, and Griffons. Due to the limited time on the tournament, he will only fight the first two classes." Oobleck explained. The crowd looked at Walker in awe and confusion as to why he would try this by himself. Walker gave no reaction and stared at the room Port and Oobleck resided in before gesturing for them to begin the match.

"Well, it seems the boy is ready!" Port laughed. The audience cheered and clapped as they waited to see what kind of environment Walker would be fighting in. The hologram began to spin quickly before stopping on a symbol that looked like a broken building; the ground suddenly sank down and an abandoned city came up. It featured multiple broken buildings and empty streets that had broken fences and tight corners and alleyways. Another hologram appeared in the air and began spinning quickly before stopping on an image of a tree; the ground suddenly sank down and a rain forest biome appeared in its place. It had numerous trees and bushes that covered most of the area while a large pond that connected to a river covered the rest of it, the air seemed misty and rain poured down from the artificial clouds. Walker stared at the area around him and took in his surroundings before rotating his neck and cracking it, letting out a sigh of relief.

Multiple snarls and howls echoed from the forest making Walker turn his attention to the source. He saw red eyes peek out from the bushes and equipped his Long-shot and aimed down the sights; he fired a round into the bushes and smiled when he heard a head explode and the wet splat of blood and brain matter hit the ground. A Beowolf ran out of the bushes and charged at Walker who quickly equipped his Retro lancer and began to charge himself; the Beowolf suddenly swung at Walker who ducked and shoved the bayonet into its stomach. The Beowolf was lifted up into the air and was thrown up a bit before it landed on the bayonet again, pushing it further into its stomach and making it come out the other side. Walker threw the Beowolf off of his bayonet before looking to see multiple Beowolves come out of the bushes and charge at him. He fired into the crowd and took out a majority of them but ducked when one of them swiped at him, making him sidestep the attack and swung up at the grimm's throat and cutting it open, causing blood to squirt out of the wound and spray his torso with blood. Another Beowolf tried to attack him from the side but failed when a combat boot hit its face, making it stumble before getting shoved to the ground with another kick. Walker quickly ran up to the Beowolf and flipped it over before curb stomping it, making its head explode. He noticed that the grimm were coming in larger numbers and knew he couldn't take them all on out in the open, he turned and ran towards the industrial district. An Ursa blocked his path and swiped at him, making him slide underneath the attack and stick his bayonet in the Ursa's stomach and using the momentum to drag the bayonet across and gutting it.

* * *

"Jeez, this is what he fights like?" Taiyang asked as he watched Walker uppercut a Beowolf, breaking its neck in the process.

"Yeah, he does. Now you guys see why I don't pick a fight with him?" Yang asked.

"Yeah." Summer said as she watched him fight. It was interesting to say the least, while he fought with savagery he also fought with tactics. Most would charge head first into a grimm crowd to try and do as much damage before the threat could become to great, he knew that he stood no chance against those numbers and decided to bring them to his turf and lessen the numbers.

"I'm curious to see how he'll fair against the older grimm." Summer said as she continued to watch on with interest.

"I'm sure he'll do fine." Taiyang said.

"Yeah... about that." Ruby chimed in making Taiyang and Summer look at her.

"What?" Summer asked.

"So... Walker gets kind of... brutal when he fights grimm." Ruby said.

"How brutal?" Tai asked.

"Umm, it's to the point where even Yang and I can't watch." Ruby said meekly. Summer and Taiyang looked at each other before preparing themselves for the future bloodbath.

* * *

Walker entered the industrial district and jumped into a nearby alleyway, hiding behind a dumpster and waited until the numerous grimm passed. He quietly made his way up to the corner of the alleyway and took cover behind it; he peeked out and noticed that the grimm had spread out and began searching for him. He noticed a lone Beowolf by itself coming to his corner and sniffing the air to try and find his scent, he slowly put away his Retro lancer and equipped his combat knife. The Beowolf came around the corner and found a serrated edge combat knife lodged in its throat before it was dragged into the dark alleyway, and killed. Walker peeked out from the corner and saw there weren't any grimm in the streets before he ran across the street and into an abandoned building that looked like a hardware store, there he saw what looked like a coil of barbed wire and a sand bag. He smiled when an idea popped into his head and he grabbed the the barbed wire and the bag before quickly going upstairs into the higher levels, he found multiple aerosol cans and razor blades making his smile widened a little bit further.

* * *

"Anyone want to explain what he's doing?" Yang asked.

"For once I have no clue." Blake answered. He's been inside the store for a while and the audience are starting to get antsy.

"I mean he's probably planning something." Weiss said as she thought about why he's taking so long.

"Look! There he is!" Ruby pointed to see Walker come out of the building while spreading some sand on the ground before climbing back into the building.

"What's he doing?" Weiss asked as she leaned forward to try and see.

"Whatever it is, it must be big." Blake said.

"Why's that?" Summer asked.

"Walker's usually the kind of guy that'll rush forward if he feels like something isn't going our way. Hiding is usually his last resort and when he does it means he's planning something." Blake explained.

"I feel like it's going to be big!" Ruby squealed.

"You know it is." Weiss said.

* * *

A Beowolf came across a dark alley and entered it while sniffing for its prey, so far it had no luck and resumed its search. It came across a pile of sand on the ground and walked up to it before sniffing it and catching a scent, it reared its head up and howled to its other pack mates to its location. It was suddenly cut off when a barbed wire noose wrapped around its neck and a sand bag dropped next to it, making the Beowolf shoot up into the air and try to claw out of the barbed wire but eventually give up as its life slipped away from it, making it dangle in the air while dripping blood on the ground. Walker leaned out of the window and shook his head before grabbing the corpse and attaching the aerosol cans and razor blades to its corpse before letting go and making the body swing back and forth in the air. He ducked back into the building and climbed to the top as the rest of the Beowolves came to the scene where the howls came from. They looked around before noticing the puddle of blood on the ground and slowly looked up to see their dead pack mate hanging up in the air, they started snarling and growling in anger before they saw the body suddenly fall to the ground. They gathered around the body and began sniffing it; a noise suddenly caught their attention and turned to see a grenade land next to the body.

Some of the Beowolves caught on and turned to try and escape the blast zone as the grenade exploded, detonating the aerosol cans which made the razors fly in multiple directions and dismember the ones that were closest while crippling the ones that were further away. Walker suddenly jumped off the side of the building and landed on a Beowolf before plunging his knife deep into the back of its neck, killing it instantly. He heard a yelp of pain and turned to see a Beowolf trying to limp away from him.

"What's the matter, you hurt?" He asked as he walked up to it and shoved his Retro lancer in its side, piercing its lungs before he ripped it out and slashed at its neck, making blood squirt all over him and the ground.

* * *

The audience recoiled a bit at the gruesome sight then cheered as Walker continued to fight more Beowolves and finish them off, their cheers grew to shouts of excitement when he addressed them with a two finger salute before stretching a bit and rotating his neck. Multiple girls in the crowd somehow got his picture and put in on a poster and began cheering for him with the loudest shouts they could muster. People began taking pictures of him and saving it in their gallery while some still had their scrolls out and were still recording from when he still started. His team was trying their hardest to not blow a gasket while they listened to the multiple girls throw flirts towards him. Ruby was muttering dark words, Weiss had a emotionless face but one could feel the air around her dip down, Blake's eyes were slits, and Yang's eyes were a deep blood red and her hair began to slightly glow. Taiyang and Summer saw the tension between them and decided to intervene.

"Uh, girls?" Taiyang asked but quickly regretted saying anything when all four of them directed their fury in his direction.

"Yes?" Ruby seethed, making him shudder.

"I think you should calm down." He said.

"Why?" Yang whispered in a furious tone.

"Because Walker is texting you four." Taiyang said as he pointed to Blake's lap. They looked down to see a text message pop up.

 _"Are you guys okay?"_ It read. Blake quickly picked up her scroll and sent a text back while the other girls looked at her text.

 _"Yeah, we're fine."_ She sent back; the scroll responded a second later.

 _"Bullshit, you guys look like you're about to go on a murdering spree."_ It read, she quickly wrote a text message and sent it.

 _"We're uncomfortable with everyone talking like this about you."_ She wrote.

 _"Believe you me, I am too. Some of these girls are shouting for me to have their babies, is this how it is on Remnant? When you fight well everyone all of a sudden wants you to have their babies?"_ The message joked making the girls laugh.

 _"Anyways, I've got a match to finish, a tournament to win, and four girls to take to dinner. So see you guys in a minute."_ Walker wrote. The girls suddenly relaxed and sat back in their seats, with content expressions. Summer and Taiyang raised an eyebrow before Tai suddenly got a message on his scroll, his eyes widened a bit when he saw a text from Walker.

 _"I need your help, I have no knowledge of any good restaurants in Vale and I have no idea what the girls like."_ The scroll read. Taiyang raised an eyebrow before texting back.

 _"Is this your attempt to take my daughters on a date, because if it is then I'm not allowing you to take them."_ He typed.

 _"What the fuck? No, it's not. I'm doing this because they're stressed about all these girls saying these things in my direction and I want to hang out with them for the night."_ Walker typed back.

 _"Hang out where?"_ Taiyang typed.

 _"That's why I'm asking you, I have no idea where to take them."_ Walker typed. Tai sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose before typing back.

 _"Fine, I'll help you. On one condition."_ Tai stated.

 _"What is it?"_ Walker asked.

 _"This weekend when we go investigating, you have to help me with coming up with a present for Summer and I's anniversary."_ Tai typed, he waited for a few seconds before he felt his scroll buzz.

 _"Deal, look I got to go. See you after the match."_ Walker said. Taiyang felt relief, but felt eyes on him and he saw all the girls' eyes on him.

"What?" He asked.

"What was that about?" Summer asked, Tai leaned in and whispered into her ear. She widened her eyes a bit before nodding and looking straight forward while cracking a smug smile.

"Mom... why are you smiling like that?" Ruby asked.

"No reason." Summer just said. "You all are lucky to have him as a teammate." She whispered and watched as Walker prepared himself for the next round.

* * *

Walker checked the clip on his lancer before putting it back in and securing it; he did the same thing for his Long-shot and snub pistol. He looked back at his team and the parents before giving them a curt nod and turned to see an Alpha Beowolf come out of the cage and sniff around before looking in his direction, his eyes suddenly widened when he noticed this one only had one arm.

"Oh my god! It's you! How're you holding up, with the whole one arm thing." Walker gestured towards its severed arm; the Alpha snarled at him before shooting off and lunging at him. He ducked underneath the lunge and fired a couple rounds at the Alpha's back, making it whirl around and smack him a few yards away from it. He flew through the air and rolled a few times before getting his feet under him and skidding a few feet, he glared at the Alpha and equipped his Long-shot, firing a round at its face. The Alpha roared in response and charged at Walker who quickly reloaded a round into the sniper and shot it at the Alpha's chest, making it slow its pace before charging at him again. He dodged to the right and reloaded another round into the chamber and fired another shot; the Alpha gave a loud roar and charged at him again, this time clipping his arm.

"FUCK!" Walker shouted as he dropped the sniper and held his wound on his arm, blood slowly oozed out of his arm and dripped onto the ground. He went prone just in time to see the Alpha lunge at him with a wide mouth. It soared over him and landed on the ground with a heavy thud; he quickly equipped his knife and held it at the ready. His vision started to go blurry and he started to lose his balance as he stared at the grimm. The Alpha and him circled each other in silence before the Alpha lunged at him and he charged at the Alpha; the alpha bit his shoulder and he stabbed the Alpha in the throat with his knife.

"Heh, you got lucky... but so did I." Walker whispered as he and the Beowolf sank to their knees before falling away from each other.

* * *

The crowd was shocked into a stunned silence as they watched the Alpha bite Walker's shoulder and him stab the Alpha. They gasped when he and the Alpha bent down on their knees and fall away from each other, it was silent for a few minutes as everyone watched Walker lie stock still on the ground and the Alpha slowly start to disappear.

"W-Walker?" Ruby stuttered as tears began to well in her eyes.

"No he can't be... I mean he's survived worse a-and..." Yang trailed off as she stared at his figure just lying there on the ground. It was unsettling to see him just lying there helpless.

"Please get up... Please." Blake begged as she stared at his body.

"Get up you idiot, you have to." Weiss said as she leaned forward.

"Come on kid, get up." Tai whispered as he stared at Walker. "Where's that dinner you promised them?" He asked.

* * *

Ozpin stared at the screen with his usual stoic expression but the grip on his cane tightened immensely. Glynda covered her mouth with her hand and stared at the screen with wide eyes, she gasped when she saw the two fall apart from one another and almost stormed out of the room.

"Glynda." Ozpin called making her face him. "He'll make it through... he didn't come this far to die now." He reassured. She stared at him for a few seconds before nodding and returning to his side to look at the screen. Call it maternal instincts but she couldn't help but feel dread when she saw the boy injured, just like every other student in the school; this was a boy who had fought through hell and beyond to see another day, she would be damned if she saw him die before he was supposed to.

"Sir... are you sure he'll make it?" She asked worriedly.

"He's a survivor Glynda, he'll do what he does best." Ozpin reassured her.

"But what if he doesn't?" She asked.

"Then I've failed him as both a headmaster and an adviser." Ozpin said as he stared at the screen.

* * *

Ironwood and Winter watched as Walker fell from the Beowolf bite. While he didn't show any emotion, he could say he felt a small ping of sadness as he watched the boy fall. Ozpin had gave him a copy of Walker's battle data and explained that he couldn't get the blood and destruction out of his mind when he watched it, at first he didn't believe his old friend but how wrong he was again. The boy had experienced more blood, death, destruction, and pain than he had in his life; he had to give it to the boy though, he never let anything stop him from continuing forward.

"General Ironwood sir." Winter said bringing him out of his thoughts. "Permission to speak?" She asked.

"Permission granted Schnee." He said.

"I'm worried about the state of Mr. Walker." She said. Ironwood couldn't blame her, he was too after watching what the boy went through.

"I am too Schnee. Throughout the short time I've known of his existence, he's displayed more battle prowess than most marines in the Atlas military. If he survives then I might be able to get him a position next to you." Ironwood said.

"While I would normally be with that sir, I do believe that that's not a good idea." Winter stated making Ironwood raise an eyebrow.

"And why not Schnee." Ironwood asked. Winter looked to the side before sighing and answering.

"Sir, I do believe that he deserves at least some sort of peace after what he has gone through. I know I have not watched his whole experience but after watching what he went through and listening to him tell the tale of when he was tortured I-" Winter said.

"Tortured?" Ironwood asked. Winter nodded a bit before resuming.

"He claimed to be tortured for a few days... now normally I would brush it off as a way to avoid a conversation or seek attention but the way he said it, he sounded so haunted by the experience. That's besides the point though, I believe he should at least get to live the life he wants, and he's also the first real friend that cares about Weiss more than her teammates." Winter finished.

"I see... if that is what you think Schnee, then I will give him peace." Ironwood said as he turned to look at the screen again.

"Thank you sir." Winter said before looking at the screen. "Get up, do it for Weiss." She said quietly.

* * *

"It appears that M-Mr. Walker is down." Port said solemnly as he stared the body of his favorite student. He's not one to pick favorites because he sees potential in all students, but he couldn't help but feel guilt looking at Walker's prone form.

"Yes... it appears that he will not be getting up anytime soon-" Oobleck suddenly stopped and leaned forward with a shocked expression.

"What is it good friend?" Port asked. Oobleck just stared wide eyed before pointing at Walker's form, Port followed his finger and widened his eyes before laughing loudly and cheering.

"Ladies and gentlemen! It appears the boy still has some fight left in him!" He cheered. He saw Walker slowly put a hand on the ground and slightly push himself up before he curled his other hand into a fist and slammed it on the ground to push himself up further. The crowd began to cheer and shout as they saw Walker rest on his knee before he stood up to his full height and give a small wave to them. He turned to his team and the parents and pointed both index fingers at them before sitting down and getting something out of his pocket.

* * *

"Let's go Walker!" Ruby cheered as she watched him get up off the ground and kneel before he stood to his full height and waved at them.

"Yeah!" Yang shouted as she waved her hands in the air.

"Oh thank Oum." Weiss breathed as she watched Walker sit down and rest a bit. She noticed that he was still bleeding and frowned when she saw it still come out; Blake noticed her look of concern and turned towards her.

"What?" Blake asked Weiss.

"He's still bleeding." Weiss said making the girls look at her.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked worriedly.

"I mean what I said Ruby, he's still bleeding and it doesn't look like it's stopping." Weiss explained.

"Guys?" Yang asked making them look at her. "I think Walker already thought of a plan." She pointed making them look at him. They saw him reach in his pocket and grab a lighter before flicking it open and igniting the flame, they winced when he suddenly jammed the lighter in one of his wounds and let the heat do its work on the wound. He cleaned the tip of the lighter and did the same thing to the rest of the holes in his shoulder, effectively stopping the bleeding. They saw him pull a gauze wrap out of one of his other pockets and slowly wrap his shoulder in it, turning the bandage slightly red from the wound.

"That kid really has everything planned." Tai complemented.

"I wonder did he think of that on the spot or did he prepare before?" Summer asked.

"I don't know, but I'm glad that he has those." Ruby answered.

"Yeah." Blake agreed as she looked to see Walker rotate his arm before checking his Retro lancer and Long-shot before drooping down.

"I think Walker might be in trouble." Blake said.

"Why?" Yang asked.

"He doesn't have anymore ammo in his guns." Blake said making the girls pale.

"He'll be alright... he has to." Ruby said as she looked forward to see multiple Beowolves and an Alpha emerge from a cage.

* * *

Walker looked to see that he only had his snub pistol and a few grenades left on him; he grabbed his Retro lancer and took the bayonet off of it before sheathing it and equipping his snub pistol.

"Alright let's do this bitches." Walker said as he aimed his snub pistol at an angle and got in a combat stance. Multiple roars could be heard and a Beowolves charged at him with the intent to eat him alive, when the first Beowolf got close it found a round enter and exit its skull. Another one got close to him and he quickly jabbed it in the snout, stunning it, before firing two shots into its eye and throwing it behind him just in time to duck underneath a swipe from another one. He stuck the pistol in its armpit and fired two shots before sticking it under its chin and firing another round, piercing its skull and spraying blood in the air. He threw himself backwards to dodge a Beowolf lunge at him, he fired the rest of the clip into the Beowolf's legs and downed it, before he quickly ran over to it and used it as a meat shield.

"Just hold still." He said as he maneuvered the Beowolf in his arms and place it in front of another of a slash that was aimed at his back. He backed up from the twelve remaining Beowolves before placing a grenade into the Beowolf in his arms scruff.

"Bag and tag, bitch!" He shouted as he kicked the Beowolf into the pack and rolled back just in time to see it explode in a shower of blood and gore, taking out at least four Beowolves. A Beowolf leaped at him and slashed downward at him, making him cross his arms in an x formation before snapping at his head. He kept moving his head side to side as the Beowolf snapped at him, he then headbutted its snout as soon as came close to it and stunned it; he then grabbed its mouth and pulled it apart until the lower jaw separated from its head. Walker then grabbed the scruff of the Beowolf and it's tail before spinning around and throwing the body into the pack, knocking two of them down. Another Beowolf charged at him and gave a downward slash at him making him grab its hand and elbow before kicking its leg from out underneath it and throwing it over his shoulder. He quickly reloaded his pistol and placed a knee on top of the downed Beowolf's chest, pinning it, and fired into the pack, killing three with head shots that made their heads explode. The Beowolf beneath him tried moving around to try and shake him off but got kicked in the face when Walker spun his leg around and gave a sweep kick to the side of its head before he placed the pistol in its mouth and pulled the trigger, killing it instantly.

"Oh yeah!" He screamed as he fired into the rest of the pack. His pistol clicked making him curse loudly and throw it at the nearest Beowolf before he pulled out the Retro lancer's bayonet and his combat knife and charged at the rest of the pack. He slashed at the nearest Beowolf's chest before sticking the knife under its chin and throwing the grimm to the side before throwing his knife at the next Beowolf's face, killing it instantly. He ran up to the falling corpse and pulled the knife out before sticking the bayonet in the next Beowolf's chest and his combat knife into its stomach; he lifted the Beowolf off the ground and up into the air before screaming and pulling both weapons away from each other. Tearing through the Beowolf's body and bisecting it, making blood and organs splash all over his body and onto the ground.

"And then there was one." Walker said without looking at the Alpha. He turned to see the Alpha staring at him with those red eyes that promised pain, but he looked closer and he swore he saw them shimmer for a second. He brushed it off as fatigue getting to him and started circling the Alpha, while it did the same to him in a slow methodical fashion. It charged at him and tackled him to the ground and knocked his knives away before snapping at him, but found its mouth caught in his hands. Spit dripped onto his helmet making him cringe and growl as the mouth got closer to his face before it bit his helmet. It recoiled in pain as its teeth broke and it backed up a bit giving Walker enough room to plant his feet underneath its stomach and kick it away from him.

"Fuck!" He cursed loudly when he reached for his knife but found it not on his person. He patted himself down and stopped when he heard the jingle from multiple COG tags in his pocket; he slowly took them all out and stared at them before looking up to see the Alpha recovering. He place each of the tags on a finger, using them as brass knuckles, before charging at the Alpha.

* * *

"Wow, I knew he was a good fighter but this... this is kind of insane." Taiyang said as he watched Walker charge the Beowolf.

"I know, but it's so cool! I mean he's going one on one with an Alpha with nothing but his fist! Kick its butt Walker!" Ruby cheered loudly. The people around her looked at her weirdly before they started cheering for Walker as he ducked underneath a swipe and gave a quick uppercut to the Alpha. They clapped when he jumped up into the air and gave an axe handle punch to the top of its head before jumping back.

"This is so awesome." Yang cheered as she watched him go hand to hand with an Alpha. After this match, she was so going to go toe-to-toe with him.

"While I would usually call this brute fighting, I must say its entertaining to see him fight like this." Weiss complemented as she smiled at his fighting style.

"It's nice to see him up and fighting again." Blake smiled a bit as she watched him fight. She and everyone else suddenly cheered when she saw Walker tackle the Beowolf to the ground and kick it in the face before being thrown away and landing on his feet.

* * *

"Come on." Walker whispered as he ducked underneath a lunge and gave a heavy uppercut to the Alpha's stomach, making it gag and spit up a bit. He sidestepped a straight stab it sent at him and grabbed its arm before kneeing its elbow and breaking it. The Alpha howled in pain before it grabbed Walker by his chest plate and picked him up, roaring in his face before gagging as he sent a straight punch to its throat and cut off its air supply for a second. He put his feet on its stomach and kicked it away from him and landed on his feet before shooting off and tackling it to the ground; he began punching it in the face multiple times before it slashed at his helmet and sent him to the side. He quickly got up and slid underneath a lunge making the Alpha slide into a tree and shatter it, sending splinters all over the ground. The Alpha charged at Walker and gave three swipes before it bent down in pain when he punched it in the side of the knee and grabbed its ears and rammed its snout into his knee, sending it flying backwards. The Alpha weakly got up and charged at Walker slowly before tumbling to the ground when it felt its injured knee give out from underneath it; Walker shook his head slowly before grabbing it by the scruff and dragging it towards the middle of the arena where his knife and bayonet where located. He roughly dropped the Alpha on the ground and walked over to his fallen weapons and picked them up off the ground before putting them on his person. He walked over to the downed Alpha who gave a weak swipe at him before it felt a bone crushing pain in its back as Walker slammed the stock of his sniper into its back; he calmly walked towards it and lifted its head so it was looking at him.

"You know, its funny. For a second there I thought I was going to die from blood loss... damn near did to." He whispered as he turned his head away before looking at the Alpha again. " Your pack mate almost took my life from me. Don't have much to say to you other than tell your damn mutt friend thanks for giving me a new scar to the collection." He said as he stood up slowly before looking at the Alpha with a dead look. The Alpha looked up to see him raise his foot before its world went black, quicker than it could blink.

Walker stood up straight and cracked his knuckles before twisting his neck and cracking it in a painful manner. He went to his downed Retro lancer and put it on his person before turning to the quiet crowd and staring at them for minute. They stared for a minute longer before suddenly cheering and clapping with excitement and glee, he saw his team and the parents waving at him and waved back at them while smiling from beneath his helmet. He turned around and gave the audience a two finger salute before walking back into the armory to get ready to leave the Colosseum. Blake got up before everybody else and left to go see Walker, followed by the rest of the girls.

* * *

 **In the armory:**

"Ow." Walker groaned as Blake rubbed some ointment on his burn wound on his back.

"While we're glad you're alive, did you really have to burn yourself?" She asked as she dipped her finger in the jar and applied some more ointment on.

"Yes-ow. I did, it was the only way to stop the bleeding and I didn't have that many bandages on me." Walker explained and winced when she put some more on. The door suddenly burst open making the two look in the direction.

"Walker!" Ruby shouted as she latched onto his injured arm and squeezed tightly making his eyes go wide.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! Ruby! Arm!" Walker shouted.

"Oh sorry!" She apologized as she quickly let go. He gently rubbed his arm before Blake stepped up and put more ointment on. It was quiet for a moment before Ruby started asking talking quickly.

"Ohthatwasawesome!Youwerelikewrrrrr!AndtheAlphawaslikewooooooo!Andthenyougotinjuredandputthelighteragainstyourskinliketssssss!And-" She talked so fast nobody could understand her.

"Ruby." Walker said making her stop.

"Yes?" She asked.

"Calm down a bit, alright?" He asked her.

"Heh, heh... sorry." She said sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her neck.

"Don't worry about it." Walker said as he lightly tapped her arm making her blush. She looked at Blake and saw she was still applying some of the ointment.

"Do you need help?" Ruby asked.

"...Yeah, I do." Blake said as she handed Ruby the jar, she then dipped her finger and started helping Blake apply some ointment on Walker's back. Her finger slowly traced each scar on his back in a slow movement making Walker visibly relax and let out a sigh of relief, she then applied the ointment on his wound and began rubbing it to completely cover the wound. After the two applied the ointment on his back they then began to wrap his shoulder in bandages and giving him back his shirt.

"Thanks." Walker said as he put his shirt back on and lied down on the bench, he sighed in relief when he began to finally rest his body from the fighting. Blake and Ruby looked at each other before sitting on the bench next to him and lying down, listening to the calming silence before the door opened and everybody else entered. Weiss and Yang looked at the trio before looking at each other and taking a seat on the bench while Taiyang and Summer stood a ways from them.

"How're you holding up kid?" Taiyang asked while leaning on a locker.

"Eh, I've been better. Tired though." Walker said as he yawned and placed his hands on his chest. Taiyang chuckled a bit before sitting on a nearby bench.

"We were worried." Summer said making Walker hum.

"Kind of figured when I got bit and fainted. Sorry about that." Walker apologized.

"Don't worry about it, at least you're alive and kicking." Yang said as she tapped his chest making him laugh a bit. The seven stayed inside the armory in silence for a few minutes before Walker said something.

"Man, I'm hungry." He said out of the blue making everyone look at him.

"Yeah, me too." Ruby agreed.

"Yep, I could eat." Weiss said.

"Agreed." Blake said

"I could go for some grub." Yang said making Walker sit up.

"Where?" He asked as he looked around making everyone look at him.

"You okay?" Summer asked. Walker shook his head before answering.

"Yeah, sorry. It's just that... that's what we used to call the locust back on Sera." Walker answered. Yang instantly felt guilty and looked down to her side.

"Oh, crap... Walker I'm sorry." She apologized.

"Bah, it's alright. You didn't know about that." Walker said as he slowly leaned up with some pain. "You know what? I don't feel like going out, I'm just going to cook for you guys." He said as he grabbed his chest armor and put it on.

"Really?" Taiyang asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What? Don't think I can?" Walker joked.

"Nah, that's not it... just didn't take you as someone who enjoys cooking." Taiyang answered.

"I'll have you know I'm a mean cook. You're probably just jealous because I can probably cook better than you." Walker joked making Taiyang recoiled and gave a mock hurt expression.

"You better than me? Preposterous!" Taiyang exclaimed making the girls giggle.

"Denial is the first step to acceptance." Walker said making Taiyang look him in the eyes.

"If it's a cooking battle than you got yourself a challenger. Come on!" Taiyang said as he grabbed Walker and rushed towards the door.

"Wait my shit!" Walker exclaimed.

"We'll have it delivered to Beacon!" Taiyang said as he hauled Walker out of the room, leaving the girls alone with Summer.

"A man that's funny, kind, smart, and can cook? I think you girls have a perfect guy on your hands." Summer teased making the girls blush in response. "So? Which one of you does he belong to?" She teased again.

"Mom!" Ruby shouted and covered her face; Summer laughed and walked out of the room with a smile on her face. Her day couldn't get any better.

* * *

 **In a desolate land:**

A woman with pale white skin, black veins coursing throughout her face, menacing red eyes, and a black dress stared at her seer with a neutral expression. She watched through one of her subjects eyes battle a boy in a golden helmet and military attire on; her eyes widened a bit when she saw him relentlessly tear her subjects apart before killing the one she was looking through. Her neutral expression came back to her face as she walked through the castle in a somewhat slow manner. She arrived at her throne room and took a seat before calling one of her subjects to her. A man with long black hair tied into a ponytail and a long scar raking across his chest knelt before her.

"You called my mistress?" He asked.

"I have a task for you Tyrian." She just said with little emotion.

"Anything my mistress, what is the task?" He asked.

"I want you to bring this boy to me." She said as she showed Tyrian the footage of the boy in a golden helmet. He cackled maniacally before standing up and bowing to her.

"It shall be done my queen." He bowed and made his way to the door.

"Tyrian." She called making him stop.

"Yes?" He asked.

"Bring him to me unharmed. I do not need to remind you of what happens if you fail or he is harmed, do I?" She asked stoically making him shake at her hidden threat, he knew what would happen if he failed.

"No, mistress Salem." He bowed and left the room with haste. Salem sat on her throne and placed a hand on her chin before looking out the window and into her land that reeked of death and despair before sighing.

"Soon... soon we will meet." She said before getting up and walking to her quarters.

* * *

 **AN: Holy fucking shit! 16,726 words this chapter. Anyways thanks for waiting for this chapter and sticking with the story so far, I appreciate it. Sorry this chapter didn't seem to be all fighting like it should be, I just had to build up the setting for when he entered the Colosseum to when he finishes it. I'm also sorry about the lack of reactions from the different cast, I kind of got lazy and just bullshit them the whole time; originally I was going to have all five of them fight in the arena but** **StelarToe6133 gave me the idea for this chapter (So thank you man or woman... depends on your gender but that's besides the point) and helping the story seem a little bit more interesting, sorry I didn't do Adam's reaction; I just didn't have the energy to do so. Also sorry to all those Sun and Neptune fans out there who are probably hating my guts right now, but who cares I have something planned for them in the future anyways. I don't really have much to say other than thank you and don't leave any negative comments; we're here to read a story not make someone feel like shit and stop writing. So have a good one and I'll catch you all on the flip side. Have a good night.**


	6. Chapter 6: Investigation(s) part 1

**AN: Hey there everybody, how are you all today? So basically I'm writing more frequently due to me being fucking sick because people at school don't know when to stay home or cover their mouths when they cough. It's disgusting when somebody coughs in their hand and touches a fucking door handle or they just cough near you and don't even bother saying sorry. That's besides the point though you all came here to read a story, not listen to me rant about people and their indecencies, so without further adieu. Let's roll on with the fucking story!**

* * *

The seven were currently rushing back to Beacon with haste, well two were. Technically it's one since the other is being dragged like a rag doll through out the crowd and towards the Bullhead. Despite Walker being a tad bit taller than Taiyang he was easily dragged around like a child's toy by the older man, he was actually curious to see how much power he had if he could drag Walker around like this. Numerous people in the crowd tried to ask Walker questions but were quickly left in the dust when Taiyang barreled through them and practically threw Walker in the Bullhead.

"Ow, what the fuck?!" Walker said as he rubbed the top part of his helmet. "Why are you so excited about cooking?" He asked.

"Are you kidding me? This is the first time in a long time that I've been able to cook." Taiyang said making Walker raise an eyebrow.

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and ask. Why?" Walker asked. Taiyang rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Last time I cooked I uh... kind of burned down Summer's brand new stove." He laughed sheepishly.

"So you mean to tell me, you're banned from cooking?" Walker asked.

"Yeah... okay, to be fair the directions for that recipe didn't state how long I had to leave it on for." Taiyang said.

"And what was the recipe?" Walker asked.

"... Meatloaf." Taiyang answered. Walker stared at Taiyang for a few seconds before he started to chuckle a bit; eventually his chuckle turned to full blown laughter as he fell on the ground. He started coughing while he was laughing as he stop for a second to look at Taiyang's embarrassed face before laughing again, he eventually stopped and lifted his helmet to stick a finger in and wipe away a tear.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... But how did you burn down the entire stove?" Walker asked as he calmed down from his laughing fit.

"I was training Yang and I sort of forgot that it was on." Taiyang answered.

"You didn't have a timer or anything to remind you?" Walker asked.

"No, that was the one thing I forgot to set." Taiyang said. Walker just shook his head and laughed before sitting in a seat and placing his hands behind his head, he closed his eyes and just enjoyed the silence for a second. He heard numerous people trying to enter the bullhead but were stopped by the pilot and a few Atlesian knights; he scowled a bit when some of the people began to shout and throw violent insults demanding that they get aboard the Bullhead to ask Walker some questions.

"I fucking hate paparazzi." Walker said.

"Why's that?" Taiyang asked.

"They don't know when to leave somebody alone, and they're trying to hard to get my attention." Walker answered making Taiyang laugh. He saw that the girls were trying to board the bullhead but couldn't due to the crowd blocking their way and trying to get aboard themselves. Walker sighed in annoyance and pushed past Taiyang and exited the bullhead and disappeared into the crowd for a minute, he later appeared with the girls in tow behind him. The pilot quickly entered the Bullhead and began to prepare for lift off.

"So how did you get them in here without being swarmed to death?" Taiyang asked.

"I just didn't answer their questions because I said I was tired." Walker stated simply making Taiyang look at Summer.

"He's not lying, that's all he said." She said with a shrug. Walker sat in his seat and leaned back with his hands on his chest before shortly falling asleep, his helmet lights flickered off making Taiyang and Summer throw an eyebrow towards the girls.

"His helmet lights usually go out when he's sleeping." Ruby said as she sat on Walker's left side, leaning on his shoulder.

"He wasn't kidding when he said he was tired." Yang said as she sat in the seat across from him.

"I mean he did get bit and he did lose a bit of blood, so it wouldn't be surprising." Weiss said as she placed a leg over her other one.

"... He got lucky though." Blake said as she leaned on Walker's right shoulder and read her book. Everybody went silent for a few minutes and just sat there. Ruby eventually started nodding off to sleep and eventually succumbed to it; Blake did the same but at a slower pace and closed her book before she fell asleep completely, her ears slightly twitched before folding a bit. Summer, Yang, Weiss, and Taiyang looked at the sleeping trio and began to snicker a bit before a sly smile came across Yang and Summer's faces. They pulled out their scrolls and turned the flash off before taking a few pictures of the three. Summer showed Taiyang some of the pictures making him laugh a bit before he put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes also. Yang showed Weiss while snickering making her scowl a bit as she looked at the picture then at the sleeping trio.

"Hey mom, I think somebody's jealous." Yang whispered as she jabbed a thumb in Weiss' direction. Summer snickered at Yang's action then laughed a bit when Weiss glared at Yang.

"I am not." Weiss whispered.

"You so are, I can just feel it." Yang said cheekily.

"That's probably just the feeling when I put you in your place." Weiss hissed.

"Hey, no need to be so defensive Weiss cream. I was just joking." Yang said with her arms in a surrendering position.

"Do I sense a cat fight between you four?" Summer teased.

"You mean you three?" Yang asked.

"No I mean you four... I'm your mother Yang, I can tell when you want something." Summer said.

"You got nothing to worry about from me." Yang denied while closing her eyes with a smile on her face.

"We'll see about that." Summer said. The rest of the ride was basked in a comfortable quiet with the exception of the dull hum of the Bullhead as it took its occupants to the academy.

* * *

Walker groggily woke up to see that everybody was asleep, with the exception of Summer who was busy doing something on her scroll. She smiled a bit and swiped at her scroll before covering her mouth to stifle a full blown laugh when she read something; he noticed that Ruby and Blake were leaning on either sides of his shoulders and were sound asleep. He mentally groaned when they tightened their grips on his shoulders and fell into a deeper sleep while nuzzling into his arms, he then saw Summer lift her scroll at him then jump when she saw that he was looking at her.

"How long have they been like this?" He whispered after a few awkward moments of silence.

"About two hours now." Summer said as she looked at Ruby and laughed quietly making Walker raise an eyebrow.

"What?" He asked making Summer shake her head.

"Nothing?" She said.

"What?" He asked again.

"Nothing... just nothing." She said. The two sat in silence for a few minutes and just listened to the dull hum of the Bullhead; Walker rotated his neck a bit and cracked it, making Summer cringe at the sound. He sighed in relief and started lightly hitting his head on the back of the seat to alleviate some of his boredom.

"You bored?" Summer asked.

"Very." Walker just said and continued to hit his head on the seat. Summer laughed again and closed her eyes for a few seconds before Walker began to talk to her.

"Can I ask you a question?" He asked.

"Yeah, sure." She said, opening her eyes and leaning forward a bit.

"Are you really Yang's mom? Because you two look nothing alike." Walker said. Summer's eyes widened a bit before she sat back and sighed.

"No, I'm not... though I wish I was." She said, making Walker look at her curiously.

"Touchy subject?" He asked.

"No... well yes... I don't know." She sighed.

"If you don't want to talk about it, then you don't have to." Walker said.

"No, it's alright... I'm her step-mom since her real one left shortly after she was born." Summer said. Anger rose in Walker's chest before he quietly cursed a bit and calming down.

"Shit... I'm sorry." He apologized.

"No, it's alright. I get that question a lot when I tell people I'm her mother." Summer said.

"Still, can't help but feel like shit." Walker said.

"Nah, it's alright. You were curious and besides we asked you personal questions." She said.

"Yeah... guess you did." Walker laughed quietly.

"Can I ask you a question?" She asked.

"Technically you just asked one." He joked making Summer laugh bit.

"Where are your parents?" She asked. Walker's mind went blank when she asked that; he had no train of thought or even any feeling. He just stared at the floor with a blank expression on his face. His silence began to grow into minutes, concerning Summer as she looked at Walker with concern.

"Walker?" She asked as she stared at his silent figure. "Walker?" She asked again. He suddenly looked up at her and leaned back before sighing a bit.

"Sorry, I just... lost my train of thought." He said.

"If you don't want to answer it then you don't have to. It was rude of me to pry after seeing what you went through-" She said.

"They're dead." He interrupted, making her stop.

"What?" She asked.

"They died in the war." He said without any emotion in his voice. His voice betrayed the pain in his mind, while it held no emotion his mind held all of it. The sadness, the guilt, the anger, the depression; all of it boiled inside of his mind like a toxic mixture ready to explode.

"...I-I'm sorry." She said solemnly as she stared at him. He just shook his head slowly.

"...It's fine. They didn't die by the locust's hands, so there's that." Walker said quietly. "I prefer to remember them as they were. Good people." He added lightheartedly.

"Well, I'm glad you remember them as that." Summer smiled.

"Heh, yeah... I am too." He said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a locket of them. He flicked it open and stared at the two of them with him in their arms, he smiled when he saw his mother's smile and his dad's smirk while he gave a toothless smile in the middle. Walker lifted his arm and handed Summer the locket for her to look at, she gently took it from his hands and smiled before looking at it. She smiled at the picture and handed it back to Walker, who took it from her and placed it in his pocket. The two sat in silence for a few seconds before Summer spoke up.

"You were a cute baby." She said.

"If you count chubby as cute." He joked making her laugh.

"I find chubby babies the cutest. Where'd all of it go?" Summer joked.

"Turned it into muscle, got tired of being fat." Walker shrugged. The two eventually began to trade stories about their eccentric lives from different perspectives, his on Sera and hers with Yang and Ruby.

* * *

 **20 minutes later:**

Everyone stayed sound asleep with the exception of Summer and Walker, who were still having a conversation about each other's lives. Right now Summer was currently telling Walker about how Taiyang wasn't allowed to cook anymore due to him burning down her stove.

"Seriously, how do you burn down a stove in 20 minutes? That's like burning water." Summer scoffed.

"I don't know... wait, what does he eat when you go on missions?" Walker asked.

"He either orders a pizza or I leave him leftovers." She said.

"Damn, that must be hard for him." Walker said.

"Well, that's what happens when you burn down a 900 lien stove." Summer huffed. Walker noticed that Ruby and Blake were still latched onto him tightly and lost feeling in both his arms.

"Mrs. Rose?" Walker asked.

"Yes?" Summer asked.

"I can't feel my arms." He said. Summer looked at him for a few seconds before succumbing to a laughing fit, she laughed for a few minutes at Walker's situation and started coughing. Eventually he started laughing too, except it was more of a chuckle than a laugh.

"No, but seriously... I can't feel my arms." He said making her stop.

"Oh... like there's no feeling in them?" Summer asked.

"Not a single feeling." Walker said making Summer wake Taiyang up.

"W-what?" He asked as he rubbed his eyes to get the sleep away.

"Walker can't feel his arms." Summer pointed. Taiyang looked at Walker with a raised eyebrow making him sigh.

"Mind explaining?" Taiyang asked.

"I don't even know where to begin, and I kind of need my arms to cook." Walker said.

"Well, I can't do anything until Ruby wakes up. She's a heavy sleeper." Tai said.

"Yeah, I noticed." Walker deadpanned. Taiyang just chuckled a bit before his expression went serious.

"Well, we got maybe 10 minutes before we land." Tai said.

"Great..." Walker just sighed and fell back asleep.

* * *

 **10 minutes later:**

The bullhead finally landed and made a loud thump as it slowly opened up the bay doors. Everybody groggily woke up and exited the bullhead, looking up to see the broken moon in the night sky.

"Uuuuugggghhh." Yang groaned as she stretched out her sore muscles and sighed in relief when she was done. She noticed that only her, Weiss, and her parents were outside the bullhead; she raised an eyebrow before she turned to see three people stumble out of the bullhead. Walker stumbled a bit before he caught himself and started to shake his arms a bit, to get the blood flowing in them again; while Blake and Ruby had frizzled hair and looked so tired that they couldn't even walk straight. Yang raised an eyebrow when Blake walked up to her and collapsed on her, making her catch her at the last second. Ruby stumbled up to Taiyang's chest and stood in front of it before she lightly slapped her head against it and fell asleep standing up. He just sighed and lightly picked Ruby up and carried her to the dorm room while Yang did the same for Blake, except she just threw her over her shoulder. Weiss and Summer looked at Walker to see him standing there and shaking his arms a bit, they saw that some of the color was returning as the blood flowed back into them.

"Are you okay?" Weiss asked.

"Me? Yeah, I'm fine. Just got to wait a minute for the blood to return back into my arms before I do anything." He answered as he rotated his right arm.

"So what do you plan to cook for us?" Weiss asked as she walked alongside Walker and Summer.

"Eh, depends on what we have available." Walker shrugged.

"I'm sure there's plenty." Summer said.

"Well, might as well use some of it." Walker said as he walked inside the academy.

* * *

Everybody entered the dorm room slowly and tiredly, the only people who weren't tired were Walker, Taiyang, and Summer; everybody else took residence in their beds. The three looked at the sleeping girls before shaking their heads and quietly exiting the room; Walker was the last one out and flicked the lights off before slowly closing the door. He turned to see Taiyang and Summer look at him.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing..." Summer said.

"You guys are terrible liars, you know that? Doesn't matter though, I'm still going to cook." Walker said as he made his way towards the cafeteria.

"You're still going to cook even though you're tired?" Tai asked.

"Yep. I'm bored and I need something to keep me awake." Walker said as he placed his hands behind his head. The three entered the cafeteria after a short walk and saw that it was mostly empty. He knocked on the kitchen door a few times before slowly entering it and noticing that nobody was in there, he then signaled Summer and Taiyang to follow him in before he picked up a cooking apron. Walker turned around after putting on the apron and saw Summer and Taiyang laughing at something.

"What?" He asked.

"Look down kid." Taiyang pointed at Walker's apron making him look down. He saw that it read 'kiss the cook' on it and sighed in response to it before shrugging and walking up to a sink and taking off his gauntlets, he then began to wash his hands while humming a little tune. Summer and Taiyang just watched as Walker picked up a book and propped it up and looked at it for a few seconds, he then began to get multiple ingredients out and set them on the counter. He stopped and looked at the cookbook for a second before shaking his head and bring out hamburger, fish, lemon juice, pepper, salt, lettuce, flour, yeast, sugar, vanilla, milk, caramel sauce, and a few other ingredients. Walker looked at both of them for a second before he suddenly snapped his fingers and turned back to his task.

"Uh, is there anything I can do?" Taiyang asked hopefully.

"Actually yes, though Mrs. Rose can't be here." Walker said.

"Why not?" Summer asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's a surprise, plus I need to talk to Mr. Xiao Long about something." Walker said.

"That's not very-" Summer started.

"Well, Summer it's about your bedtime. See you later." Taiyang said as he pushed her out the door and closed it behind her, locking her out. Summer stared wide-eyed for a second before she scowled and began to shoulder charge the door.

"Tai! Tai, you open this door now!" Summer ordered from the other side of the door. He felt her kick the door to try and get back inside but eventually give up and storm away, he slowly opened the door and peeked outside to see her form retreat before closing and locking the door again. He walked next to Walker and saw that he was kneading dough while looking at the cookbook and humming a tune.

"Alright kid, what are we cooking?" Tai asked as he began washing his hands.

"I'm making lemon salmon, salad, English muffins, monkey bread, cinnamon rolls, and strawberry cheesecake." Walker listed making Tai gape in surprise.

"Whoa! You sure you can do all that?" Tai asked.

"That's why you're here; you're making hamburgers and coffee cake." Walker said.

"Look I know you like cooking but something like this can take all night. Are you absolutely sure you can handle this?" Tai asked concerned.

"Please, I've stayed up for three days straight sometimes. Something as trivial as this is child's play; you're probably just concerned because I can cook longer than you." Walker said as he continued to knead.

"Wha? Oh it's on now." Tai said as he cracked his knuckles.

"Bring it then." Walker said.

"Let's cook." Tai said as he put the hamburger in a mixing bowl.

* * *

 **6 hours later:**

The two were still in the kitchen busy with their cooking, not even bothering to check to see what time it was. They were currently sitting at one of the tables in the cafeteria having a conversation about their lives, it was more about Taiyang's than Walker's.

"So that's pretty much why we decided to give Ruby her name." Taiyang finished.

"That's a lot of chaos just to name Ruby." Walker said.

"Meh, glad it happened though." Tai shrugged. "So tell me this Walker, where did you exactly learn to cook like that." He asked, making Walker laugh a bit before leaning back and sighing.

"Uh, let's see... I actually learned to cook from my grandma." He said.

"No shit?" Tai laughed.

"Yeah, she was actually a baker and a good one at that." Walker laughed.

"What else did she teach you to make?" Tai asked.

"Pshhh, fuck... what didn't she teach me? She taught me how to make all kinds of stuff." Walker said as he leaned forward and placed his hand on his helmet.

"I'm sure it's a lot." Tai said.

"You're telling me. She and my granddad practically raised me when my parents where away." Walker said as he shook his head. The two were still having their conversations when a timer went off making them sigh and enter the kitchen. When they got there they found Ren standing there with a shocked expression while holding the tray of monkey bread, he stood there for a second before placing the tray on the stove and closing the door.

"Ren what the hell are you doing here?" Walker asked.

"I was going to make Nora some pancakes for breakfast since it's here birthday today." Ren answered.

"What are you doing making pancakes at midnight?" Taiyang asked.

"Midnight? It's six in the morning." Ren stated.

"Bullshit." Walker said not believing him.

"It's true, look at your watch." Ren pointed. Walker reached in his pocket and fished out his watch before rolling his eyes, they later widened when the time did read 0600.

"Um... hey Tai?" Walker asked.

"Yeah?" Tai asked back.

"What time does everybody wake up?" Walker asked.

"Classes don't start until nine but the cafeteria doesn't open until seven." Tai answered. Walker placed his hand on the bottom side of his helmet before an idea popped in his head.

"Hey Ren, you need any help?" Walker asked.

"Not really but I would like some." Ren said.

"Say no more." Walker said as he tossed Ren a apron.

"What are you doing." Ren asked.

"Killing time." Walker said as he pulled out the flour again.

"Hey, is it alright if I head back to the room?" Tai asked.

"Huh? Yeah, you can. I'm pretty much done with everything here." Walker said as he handed Ren the sugar. Tai nodded and left the two teenagers, he looked back and cracked a smile before heading back to the room. Walker and Ren were making pancakes in silence and kept it that way before Ren looked at Walker from the corner of his eye, something Walker noticed.

"Ren... if you're going to look at me and ask a question then do it." Walker said making Ren surprised.

"I didn't think you noticed that." Ren said.

"I wear this helmet to protect my noggin and keep my face hidden. It doesn't make me blind." Walker said as he tapped his helmet.

"That's what I wanted to ask you about. How come you wear it so much? Doesn't it ever get uncomfortable?" Ren asked.

"Nope, my helmet has cushioning in it." Walker said as he flipped a pancake.

"Hmm..." Ren just said as he flipped a pancake.

"Soooo, about that weapon..." Ren said.

"Yep, kinda figured you'd ask about that." Walker sighed as he put a pancake on a plate and started to pour batter on the pan to make another one.

"I was wondering if you'd let Nora use it for the day." Ren said.

"And by use you actually mean keep." Walker stated.

"...Yes." Ren sighed. Walker looked at him then shook his head.

"I won't let her keep it but I can help Ruby make one for her. She can borrow mine until the end of the day but after that I want it back." Walker said.

"I understand." Ren said.

"Look, I'm not trying to be a dick or anything by not letting her keep it. It's just that... that weapon has kept me alive for years as has my other ones." Walker said.

"Really, how?" Ren asked.

"It once saved me from a monster that was about to claw my head off." Walker said.

"So a Beowolf?" Ren asked.

"Heh, yeah... something along those lines." Walker whispered. The two kept making pancakes in a comfortable silence until Walker started making a pancake in a cog symbol. He then put a skull in the middle of it and let it simmer until he flipped it, once it was done he put it on a plate and just stared at it for a minute. Ren just finished his pancake and put it on a plate before looking at Walker, he saw him stare at a creepy pancake that had a skull in the middle of a cog. His concern started to grow when he looked at Walker and saw him just... staring at it, like he was reliving something.

"Walker?" Ren asked as he stared at the now silent person next to him; he slowly walked up to him and put his hand on the side of his shoulder before jumping back when Walker whipped out a combat knife and slashed at him.

"Walker! What are you doing?!" Ren shouted as he ducked under another slash that was directed towards his throat and sidestepped another that was coming towards his head. Ren then grabbed Walker's forearm to stop a stab that was aimed for his eye. He struggled a bit before falling on his knees when Walker put his other hand on the handle of the knife and gave it more force, making Ren fall on the ground. The knife inched closer towards Ren's face making him strain to try and keep it from puncturing him, he then moved his head to the side and let the knife stab the ground before kicking Walker in his stomach and throwing him back. Walker hit the wall and slowly stood up before cracking his knuckles and getting in a boxing stance while Ren got in a combat stance and stared at Walker. Both were in a dead lock as they stared at each other with neutral expressions, before the smoke alarm went off. Walker got out of his combat stance and looked around quickly before he set his sights on Ren.

"Oh, hey Ren... why do you look like you're getting ready to fight?" Walker asked making Ren raise an eyebrow.

"You just attacked me." Ren said still in a combat stance.

"What? Really?" Walker asked scratching his head.

"Yes!" Ren exclaimed, he slowly got out of his combat stance and stared at Walker. The two stared at each other for a few minutes before Walker looked at his watch.

"Ehh... can I have my knife back?" Walker asked awkwardly.

"Are you going to attack me?" Ren asked.

"No, why would I do that? You're a friend." Walker said.

"But you just attacked me." Ren said.

"Okay, if I did then I'm sorry." Walker apologized. Ren looked at Walker for a second before he grabbed the knife and looked at him.

"Walker... what do you remember?" Ren asked slowly.

"I remember cooking with Tai, you coming in here, cooking with you, and then... blank." Walker said.

"Blank?" Ren asked.

"Yeah, after I made the pancake my mind went blank." Walker said. He then stared ahead for a few seconds before shrugging and grabbing the knife from Ren and sheathing it. "Look, if I attacked you then I'm sorry. I sometimes go blank and do stuff... or so I'm told; well whatever, it's all in the past. I'm going to go take this stuff to my team while you do the same." He said as he put the food on the tray and rolled out of the kitchen leaving Ren alone. He then looked at the pancakes he and Walker cooked before looking at the final pancake that was on the counter. He looked at it and shuddered at the design, it looked so menacing to be a pancake. He took in its features before looking away from it and threw it in the trashcan before putting all the pancakes on tray and rolled it out, taking it to Nora.

* * *

Ruby groggily woke up and looked around, she noticed that she was in her bunk and that everybody else was asleep. She slowly sat up and jumped off of the bunk and landed with a quiet thump. Blake's ears twitched before she sat up and saw Ruby standing there, they noticed that Walker wasn't in his usual spot on the ground and looked around.

"Where's Walker?" Blake asked as she rubbed her eyes.

"I dunno." Ruby yawned as she stretched. She sighed in relief when she felt all her muscles relax and began to shake her arms and legs to get the blood flowing in them. Blake slowly stood up before doing the same thing and sighed in relief when her back popped and muscles relaxed, she slowly took off her socks and curled her toes making them pop in response.

"Hey Blake?" Ruby asked.

"Hmm?" Blake hummed as she placed a hand behind her neck and rotated it.

"Your hair looks kind of..." Ruby trailed off as she gestured towards her hair. Blake looked up and noticed that her a strand was in front of her face before brushing it behind her ear.

"Thanks." She said as she picked up a book.

"Yep." Ruby chimed. Both of them sat in silence for a few minutes before Ruby got up and went in the bathroom to take a shower. Blake's ears twitched as she heard the shower turn on, she waited a few seconds before reaching underneath the bed and picking up a copy of Ninjas in Love 2. She read for a few minutes in silence before she got to a specific part in the book and blushed, her eyes went wide and her ears twitched in excitement; she was so caught up in her reading that she didn't notice someone in front of her.

"Man, that must be a really juicy part." Walker said as he leaned over her and whispered in her ear. She jumped up and yelped before slamming the book shut and hiding it under the blankets.

"W-Walker! I-I didn't notice you there." She laughed nervously with a red face.

"That's probably because you were nose deep in your book." Walker said as he tapped her nose, making her blush deepen.

"Shut up." She just said and picked up another book. Walker looked at her before leaning back and lying on her bed, staring at the underside of Yang's bed before looking at the books that suspended it up.

"How the hell is this stable?" Walker asked.

"I don't know." Blake shrugged, she sat on the bed and got underneath the covers before flipping a page in her book. The blanket slowly pulled away from her making her scowl before tugging it back, it was pulled away again making her growl a bit and pull it back again; it was pulled away again at a faster pace making her hiss and forcefully pull it over herself and hold it in an iron grip.

"Wow, I'm a little hurt Blake." Walker said in mock hurt.

"Why?" She mumbled.

"You're not even going to look at the food I made for you guys." He said.

"What food..." She said as she looked turned from her book and slowly looked at the tray of hot food. She dropped the book and went slack-jawed when the numerous scents assaulted her nose, making her mouth water; her mouth was closed when a hand gently cupped her chin and closed it for her.

"You're going to catch a fly or two with that mouth wide open." Walker joked. Blake looked at Walker for a second before she turned her attention back onto the food.

"Walker this is... I don't... when did you make all this?" She asked as she looked at him.

"Did it while you four slept. I wasn't tired so I figured I'd do something for you guys since you hadn't eaten last night, plus I haven't cooked in a while so might as well freshen up a bit on it." Walker shrugged as he leaned up and propped himself on his elbows before suddenly being hugged by Blake. He took on a surprised expression before laughing a bit and hugging her back, he sat up completely before stretching and popping his back before he heard the bathroom door open.

"Hey Ruby, I made you guys somethi-" He said and suddenly stopped when he saw Ruby in nothing but a towel and damp hair. Water dripped from the tips of her hair while the two just stared at each other for a few moments, she suddenly blushed and bolted back in the bathroom leaving a trail of roses in her wake. Walker stood there for a few seconds with a shocked expression before he slowly walked to Blake's bed and slowly sat on it, placing his head on his hands.

"Are you okay?" Blake asked.

"Besides the fact that I just saw our most innocent member of our team half naked, yeah I'm fine." Walker said.

"If you say so." Blake trailed off and stared at the food.

"Look, I know you want to grab that tasty fish that's sitting there but you gotta wait." He said.

"Why?" Blake drooled as she stared at the lemon fish.

"Because you all need to eat since classes start in two hours." Walker said as he lied back on Blake's bed; he closed his eyes and sighed in relief when his body settled into the bed. The bathroom door slowly opened and he heard someone walk towards the tray of food, he raised an eyebrow when he saw Ruby trying to sneakily steal a cinnamon roll.

"Put it back." He said making her jump.

"O-oh hey W-Walker... I-" She stuttered.

"You were going to have one?" Walker asked.

"...Yes." She said making Walker laugh.

"Well to bad, cause you gotta wait till everyone else is up." He said as he closed his eyes.

"But whyyyyyy?" Ruby groaned.

"Because everybody else has to be awake." He said. Ruby wasted no time and grabbed her whistle; a mischievous smile formed upon her face as she placed it in her mouth.

"Ruby no." Blake said.

"Ruby yes." Ruby said as she went right next to Weiss' ear and blew the whistle. Weiss yelped loudly and fell out of the bed before sitting up and looking around quickly, her eyes caught sight of Ruby with a whistle in her mouth. Walker sat up and laughed when he saw Weiss' face turn red with anger when she caught sight of Ruby with the whistle in her mouth.

"What is wrong with you?!" Weiss shouted.

"No time to explain!" Ruby said as she climbed up on Walker's shoulders and got really close to Yang's ear. She was about to blow the whistle when it was suddenly ripped from her mouth and thrown across the room, landing in the trashcan. Yang scowled at Ruby's awe struck face and turned around to fall back asleep, she growled when Ruby climbed on top of the bed and sat on Yang's back.

"Yang get up!" Ruby said.

"No, leave me alone Ruby." Yang mumbled.

"But Walker has food for us." Ruby said making Yang groan.

"Uhhhhh, fine." She mumbled and rolled off of her bunk, making a loud thump when she hit the ground.

"Oh shit! You alright?" Walker asked. Yang didn't say anything but gave a thumbs up while her face was in the ground.

"Judging by my analysis, you're still tired." Walker said in a detective voice making Yang nod her head.

"Well eat up, since we have class in an hour and a half." He said making her groan and look at the food. She slowly got up and picked up a tray and put a burger, an English muffin, and a cinnamon roll on her plate before sitting on Blake's bed next to Walker and eating silently. Everybody shared a concerned glance at each other before Walker looked at Yang again.

"Are you sure, you're okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine." She said quietly. Walker didn't believe her and noticed that her face was slightly red, he slowly put his hand against her forehead and noticed that it was burning.

"You're not fine, since you're burning up." He said.

"I'm fine, Walker." Yang said as she finished the burger and started to eat the English muffin.

"You're not fine Yang. You're burning up, you can barely stand, and you sound congested." He listed. Yang sighed and finished her meal before lying back on Blake's bed with a dull thump, she closed her eyes and fell asleep before she was picked up in a bridal position and carried over to the bathroom and sat on the toilet. Walker lightly slapped her face to wake her up, much to her annoyance, and went in the medicine cabinet to pull out a thermometer and put it in a probe cover.

"Open up." He said. She opened up her mouth and lifted her tongue as Walker stuck the thermometer in her mouth and waited for a few moments. He pulled it out of her mouth and sighed when he saw that she had a fever running 102.3, he then threw the probe in the trash and put the thermometer back in its case before picking Yang up and walking out of the bathroom. He entered the room with Yang still in his arms and walked towards Blake's bed and setting her down; lifting the covers from up underneath her and covering her up until her stomach.

"What's wrong with Yang?" Ruby asked.

"She's sick. What's her usual temperature?" Walker asked.

"Without her semblance... about 98.2" Ruby said. Walker nodded and picked up a plate and handed it to each girl, with the exception of Yang, he then sat down in front of Blake's bed with her sitting next to him.

"How long did it take you to make all of this?" Weiss asked somewhat amazed.

"About six hours, it was worth it though." Walker shrugged. Blake picked up the lemon salmon and took a bite out of it before she melted at the taste.

"Well, I'm glad you made it. Thank you." Blake said as she ate another piece.

"Yeah, thanks Walker!" Ruby shouted and took a bite out of her cinnamon roll.

"Thanks Walker." Weiss said, eating her salad.

"Anytime... I'm going to take a shower. Holler is you guys need anything." He said as he put his dirty plate on the tray and grabbed his uniform before entering the bathroom. The girls continued to eat their food with smiles on their faces before someone knocked on the door; Ruby quickly got up and opened it to see Jaune at the door with a nervous expression.

"Hey Jaune. Eh, why do you look so nervous?" Ruby asked.

"It's Nora's birthday." He said as he looked around.

"What's so bad about that?" She asked.

"She ate all her pancakes and she wants to have fun." He shuddered. "Can I come inside?" He asked.

"Uh yeah." Ruby said as she moved out of the way to side to let him in. Jaune saw that everybody was eating something except Yang, who was in the bed, and were getting something else.

"Whoa, were'd all this food come from?" He asked.

"Walker made this for us." Ruby said as she sat down next to Weiss.

"What's wrong with Yang?" Jaune asked as he saw her in the bed.

"Walker says she's sick." Weiss said. Jaune took a closer look at Yang and noticed that she was red in the face, was sniffling, and looked to be burning up.

"Yeah, she's got a cold." He said making Weiss raise an eyebrow.

"How do you know?" She asked.

"I uh... lived with seven sisters. Most of them were younger than me and got sick a lot." Jaune said, rubbing the back of his neck. He heard the bathroom door open and saw Walker step out with his uniform on, he rotated his neck a bit before his he caught sight of Jaune.

"What's up Jaune." Walker greeted as he walked by and checked on Yang.

"Nothing, just hiding from Nora." Jaune said.

"Didn't want to celebrate her birthday?" Walker asked.

"How'd you know it was her birthday?" Jaune asked.

"I helped Ren cook some pancakes today." Walker said as he sat down and leaned next to Yang.

"Wait hold up a second... you cooked all of this and helped Ren cook pancakes?" Jaune asked.

"Yep." Walker just said. Jaune suddenly grabbed Walker's shoulders and looked him in the visor.

"Please teach me how to cook like you." Jaune begged.

"Trying to impress someone?" Walker joked. Jaune looked hesitate about something and looked to the side before he muttered something; Walker glanced at Weiss and sighed in response before placing a hand on Jaune's shoulder and leading him out of the room. Once they were outside he led Jaune to the end of the hallway and placed him against the wall before looking around then back at Jaune.

"Look Jaune, I know you like Weiss but she doesn't like you." Walker said straight to the point.

"Wow, way to get my hopes up." Jaune said dejectedly.

"I've got to give it to you straight man. Okay, just because you like a woman and you do all this shit for her doesn't mean she likes it." Walker explained.

"Then what do I do?" Jaune asked.

"If she isn't in to you then face the fact man, there are plenty of fish in the sea. You just gotta look hard enough to find the perfect woman for you." Walker said.

"But who'll go for someone like me?" Jaune asked dejectedly. Walker stared at Jaune for a few moments before smacking him upside the head.

"Ow! What was that for?" He asked.

"Stop thinking like that. It's what draws grimm and second there's already someone waiting for you." Walker said.

"Really? Who?" Jaune asked.

"That's for you to find out pal. Now, listen I'll teach you how to cook on one condition." Walker said.

"What?" Jaune asked.

"While I'm away make sure Nora doesn't go in my locker." Walker said.

"Okay... any particular reason why?" Jaune asked.

"I don't want her breaking my stuff." Walker said, he looked at his watch then back at Jaune. "Look, I got to get ready for today and check up on Yang. So remember what I said and look for that someone special, alright?." He asked as he tapped Jaune's arm and walked away.

"I don't know if this morning turned out bad or good." Jaune said.

"Oh fearless leader~" He heard Nora's voice echo from down the hallway.

"I think I figured out which one it is." Jaune said as he bolted down the hallway, away from an overly happy Valkyrie.

* * *

Walker made his way back to the dorm room but saw Summer and Tai from down the hall and catch sight of him.

"Hey kid, you ready for tonight?" Tai asked.

"Tonight? I thought we were going tomorrow?" Walker asked.

"There's been another murder that we've been told about." Tai said.

"Yeah... just let me finish classes then get my stuff. How long is it going to take to get there?" Walker asked.

"About a couple of hours." Summer said.

"Alright... you know Yang's sick right?" He asked.

"What?! Is she okay?! Where is she?! Where's my baby girl?!" Summer asked frantically.

"In the room, she just has-" Walker started. He was suddenly interrupted when Summer disappeared in a trail of white roses and practically burst inside the room, leaving a surprised Walker and Taiyang. They heard panicked shouting, stuff being moved, and someone struggle before Summer came out of the room after a few minutes of silence, she walked up to them and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Well, now that Yang's all squared away we can discuss business." She said as she clapped her hands.

"Do I even need to ask?" Walker asked.

"Nope. Now we need to leave by 11 tonight to be there on time, so don't be late." Summer said.

"Alright, just let me set a reminder." Walker said as he set a reminder on his watch. He heard the dorm room door open and saw that Blake, Weiss, and Ruby were out with their uniforms on; they quickly spotted him and Ruby used her semblance to bolt up to their position.

"I thought you guys left already?" She asked.

"We leave Sunday, we've got a few things to do with Walker before we leave." Tai said. Ruby looked at them confused then at Walker.

"What do you need Walker for?" She asked.

"He's going on a mission with us." Summer smiled. Ruby's eyes widened and she started bouncing up and down quickly as she looked at the three.

"Oh! That is so cool! Can I come?! Please?! Please?! Please?! Pleeeeeaaaasssseee?!" Ruby asked quickly.

"Sorry kiddo, maybe next time." Taiyang laughed.

"Okay..." Ruby sighed before she smiled. "Can you at least send pictures?" She asked hopefully.

"I'll see, though I can't promise anything." Walker said. He checked his watch and saw that is was around 8:30, he sighed and decided to get to class to get them out of the way asap.

"Alright, Ruby. Let's get these classes out of the way." Walker said. Ruby sighed and kicked her feet before walking to class with Blake and Weiss; Walker began to make his way but stopped when Tai grabbed his shoulder.

"You know you can't show her anything right?" Tai asked.

"...Yeah, I know." Walker said.

"Then why did you tell her you would?" Tai asked.

"I said that I can't promise anything which usually means I can't usually don't do anything." Walker said.

"So you made an empty promise? That's kind of shady." Tai commented.

"Better than making a real promise." Walker said.

"Why?" Summer asked.

"Because I usually don't keep those, and when I usually do it's to a dead man." Walker said as he lifted his helmet and rubbed his eyes. "Look, can I just go to classes? I want to get them out of the way." He added.

"Yeah, go ahead. Just make sure you aren't late tonight." Summer said. Walker gave a curt nod before he quickly followed the three girls and headed to class.

* * *

The day went by relatively quick, Port actually gave a lesson that kept everybody awake and focused, Oobleck decided to use today as a study period, and Glynda just did her usual thing. Everybody was currently heading back to the dorm room with somewhat content expressions, with the exception of Walker. His mind was currently focused on the case he was going to do with Summer and Taiyang. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice he bumped into someone until the someone fell on the ground, he looked down and saw that Sun was on the ground while Neptune stood in the sidelines. Nobody dared to say anything for a few minutes and just stared in silence. Sun and Neptune stared at the girls with crestfallen expressions while the girls stared back in irritation and slight anger, while Walker just stared with a neutral expression. Walker shook his head and offered a hand to Sun, who accepted it, and lifted him off the ground before backing up. He looked back to the girls and noticed their agitation growing and decided to prevent an unnecessary confrontation.

"You three can go back to the dorm... I'm going to stay and have a little chat with these two." Walker said making the girls nod and brush past the two, Blake tapped Walker's shoulder as she past him and gave him a look. When he saw that she was around the corner and in the dorm he finally addressed the two, who stood there with slightly nervous expressions.

"Look man, we wanted to apologize." Neptune said making Walker snort.

"The fuck are you apologizing to me for?" He asked.

"For talking crap about you behind your back." Sun said.

"I already knew that part." Walker said.

"You did?" Neptune asked.

"Oh yeah. Heard every single bit of it." Walker said making the two wince. "I also know that you two have been hounding after my teammates... something I'm not very fond of." He added, circling the two like a predator to its prey. He finally stopped when he stood in front of them again and just stared at them.

"So... do you accept it?" Sun asked.

"Not even in the slightest. Here's why: you two never apologized to the girls about talking about me, because in all seriousness, I really don't give a shit. You display false feelings towards them, and yes Neptune I mean you. And last but not least, you didn't even get to know them." Walker said making the two shrink.

"That's not true." Neptune said making Walker tilt his head.

"Oh, it's not? Tell me something Neptune... why did you go after Weiss, hmm?" Walker asked.

"I...I don't really know why. Her looks I guess?" He said in an unsure tone.

"That's your first mistake, you didn't really go after Weiss for her, you went after her for her looks. I noticed this when you started flirting with Team NDGO. For God's sake even Jaune tried to get to know Weiss before you did Neptune." Walker said. Neptune looked down and away from Walker as he turned his attention to Sun.

"Why'd you go after Blake Sun?" Walker asked.

"To help her." Sun said.

"Bullshit." Walker said.

"How's it bullshit?" Sun said accusingly.

"She told me about you when she first met you. Said you helped her because you saw something in her, that correct?" Walker asked as he peered into Sun's eyes, making him shake slightly.

"Yes." Sun said.

"What did you see in her?" Walker asked.

"...A faunus who needs help." Sun answered.

"Who said she needed help?" Walker asked.

"I don't know, I did I guess." Sun said. Walker stared at the two for a minute before he shook his head and sighed.

"Here's what kind of vibe I get from you two. You're confused hormonal teenagers with no knowledge of the female mind, not that I have any, but you get the picture. Instead of seeing four girls with a pretty face, I see four people who could change the world through their determination alone. The reason they like me is because I help them through their insecurities and problems while asking nothing in return, could I? Yes I could but I don't because that implies I'm someone who always wants something in return. So to save time and a lot of unnecessary talking, I'm just going to give it to you two straight... they don't like you. I know this because-" Walker said.

"How do you know that?" Sun started.

"Do not _fucking_ interrupt me, you motherfucker!" Walker said forcefully making Sun clamp his mouth shut. The boys backed up into the wall as Walker began to take menacing steps towards them and peered into their faces.

"I know because they told me so. Sun, Blake doesn't like you because you try to fucking hard to get her attention and talked shit about me." He said before turning to Neptune. "And Weiss doesn't like you because you showed what hides beneath that pretty boy exterior, a player who doesn't care about a woman's feelings and only goes after her looks. So the sooner you two get it through your thick fucking skulls the sooner we all can move on from this little conversation, do I make myself clear?" Walker asked. The two didn't give any reaction making Walker scowl beneath his helmet.

"I said _do I make myself clear?_ " He asked as he rotated his head at an unnatural angle and stared into their eyes.

"Yes." They both replied in unison. Walker backed up away from them and scoffed.

"By the time I get back from my trip, I had better hear you two apologize to them." Walker said as he marched away from them went to the armory. Both of them didn't move from their spots for a minute before they let out a breath they didn't know they were holding.

"We should apologize." Sun said.

"Yeah... you can let go of me now." Neptune said. Sun looked at him then laughed sheepishly before walking towards the girls' dorm and knocking on it.

* * *

Walker huffed in annoyance after having a talk with the two, he already knew about their little 'conversation' they had about him. He shook his head in disappointment the more he thought about the conversation he had with them and sighed in annoyance once again. The armory was empty save for the old man who seemed to be everywhere in Vale, ranging from being a janitor in beacon to being a book store owner down in Vale. He opened his locker and began to tap the bottom side of his helmet while humming, trying to make a selection of the weapons he was going to use for this investigation.

"Hmm, so many weapons. So little time... fuck it." Walker shrugged and grabbed his Lancer and his Gnasher shotgun, placing them on his back before grabbing his snub pistol and remaining frag grenade. Closing the locker and exiting the room with loads of time on his hands to kill, he decided to do something productive; in other words he was going to talk to go to the shooting range.

"Excuse me?" A voice rang out making Walker turn around to find a raven haired woman with bright amber eyes. Her hair was tucked over one of her eyes and she had a pointed chin with pale skin, she was also wearing a red dress with yellow streaks in it that stopped at just above her thighs.

"What can I help you with?" Walker asked politely.

"I was wondering if you could sign my picture?" She said as she flashed a small smile and handed him a picture of himself.

"Sure..." Walker said as he slowly took the picture and wrote in cursive while keeping an eye on the woman in front of him, something she wasn't aware of. While Walker was slowly writing his signature he noticed that she was with Emerald and Mercury, deducing that she was part of their team making his eyes narrow while he signed. She bounced on her feet a bit while she kept her gaze on him and smiled lightly when he handed her back the picture, but frowned internally when she noticed that he only wrote his first name.

"Aren't you going to write you last name?" She asked.

"Don't have one." Walker lied, it was a bullshit one but nonetheless a lie. She gave a small frown as she saw through his lie.

"Everyone has one." She said.

"Not me." Walker said.

"Did your parents have an argument when naming you?" She asked.

"Don't know, never met them." Walker just said without any emotion.

"Tsk, that's a shame. I would have loved to meet them for raising a strong individual such as yourself." She said.

"You flatter me... is there anything else I can help you with?" Walker asked while putting his hand behind his back, slowly reaching for his pistol.

"No, you've given me everything I need." She said. "Farewell Walker." She added and began to walk out of the armory.

"As to you... Ms. Fall." Walker said making her eyes widen and quickly turn around to face him. She noticed that the spot he was at was empty and there seemed to be no trace of him in the room. Cinder growled underneath her breath and pulled out her scroll to call Emerald, who stood a ways away from the two of them.

"I thought your semblance was supposed to work Emerald?" Cinder asked stoically, she could practically feel emerald shiver at her lack of emotion.

"I-I thought it would this time. He displayed signs of fatigue, and that's usually when my semblance works the best." Emerald replied nervously.

"It appears it didn't work this time Emerald. Where is Mercury?" Cinder asked.

"Right here, and before you ask me where he is I'm here to tell you I don't know." Mercury said from the other side of the call. Cinder scowled and squeezed her scroll tightly, threatening to crack the handheld device.

"Did you see where he went?" Cinder asked.

"He went down a hallway but when I followed him down it he suddenly disappeared." Mercury answered.

"What?" Cinder asked.

"Yeah, that was my reaction. A guy that big and loud looking somehow managed to escape me... are you sure we can't just kill him?" Mercury asked.

"No, because he could be a potential ally." Cinder said.

"Or a potential enemy." Emerald said.

"Care to elaborate Em?" Mercury asked.

"Yesterday at stadium he somehow sneak behind me and take me into a corner before holding a knife up to my neck." Emerald explained.

"How is this relevant?" Cinder asked.

"His knife somehow ignored my aura and make an incision in my neck." Emerald answered, making Cinder and Mercury raise an eyebrow.

"So you're saying his weapons can cut through aura with no drawbacks?" Cinder asked.

"Most likely." Emerald answered.

"Hmm, keep an eye on him. He may prove to be useful in the future." Cinder ordered.

"And what if he isn't?" Mercury asked.

"Then he is a waste of time and must be handled." Cinder said. Mercury smirked and Emerald sighed quietly before hanging up and putting the scroll in her pocket. Mercury walked away form Emerald, leaving her alone in the hallway; her scroll suddenly vibrated making her pull it out of her pocket and look at it.

 _"You three realize I was in the room the entire time right, I just looped around to get back in. Ha, you're boss is actually pretty fucking stupid to think otherwise. If this is what path you're following then no wonder you're nobody but a simple pawn for somebody else, it's a shame too. I really thought you could have turned out to be a better person, but again I was wrong with my judgement. So listen good because I'm only going to contact you once... change the path you're going down Emerald because it'll only bring you pain and suffering for the rest of your life. If an opportunity to get out presents itself then you had better take it or else you'll be in a world of trouble when time comes. By the way tell your silver-haired boy toy the next time he follows me don't be surprised when he finds his eyes missing, I'm starting my collection again and I want to start it off with some unique ones. -W"_ The message read before the scroll started to heat up and make Emerald drop it before it short circuited and shut off. Emerald thought about his offer and contemplated it. Could someone like her really change for the better? She shook her head and scowled at the thought of changing and scoffed at it, she began to walk down the hallway but suddenly stopped and really put a thought into that message. Here she was possibly planning the downfall of one of the most prodigious academies in all of Remnant while getting nothing in return, but a simple good job from a woman that didn't even care about her. She then thought about the last part of the message and shuddered; she had already met him and he didn't seem like a person who had all bark and no bite... no, he seemed like the kind of person who had done bad things in his life and wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

"That's really fucked up though. Who would take eyes for a collection?" She asked herself and walked down the hall to the temporary dorm.

* * *

 **Hours later:**

The night sky was clear and the moon shone brightly, illuminating the bullhead dock. Right now only one person was standing at the dock looking at his watch and sighing slight annoyance while pacing around and humming to himself; seriously how hard was it to follow your own schedule?

"Be here by eleven they said. We need to leave so we get there on time they said." Walker said annoyed. He heard two people walking towards him and turned to see Summer and Tai approach him with slightly disheveled clothes and hair, his brows furrowed the longer he looked at them.

"Are you two kidding me?" Walker asked.

"What?" Tai asked.

"I was out here for what... 30 minutes? And you two were busy fucking? Are you serious?" He asked annoyed.

"W-what?! We w-weren't doing that!" Summer stuttered.

"Kid, that's not what we were doing." Tai said.

"Okay, that's a lie. Because one: I can smell it on you two and two, your clothes aren't even on right. I'm pretty sure your belt is supposed to buckled and your pants zipped up." Walker pointed making Tai look down and chuckled nervously before zipping up his pants. Walker rolled his eyes and sighed in annoyance before turning around and taking off his helmet, much to the two adults' surprise, before rubbing his hair and placing the helmet back on and walking inside the bullhead. He lied down on the seats and closed his eyes, letting the fatigue from the past day engulf him and take him into the black void of his mind. He didn't notice another person enter the bullhead at the last second and sit next to him, gazing at the unlit port lights before leaning back and closing their eyes.

"Why're you here?" Tai asked.

"General Ironwood wishes for me to log down Lieutenant Walker's battle expertise on the battle field." Winter said professionally.

"Any particular reason why?" Tai asked.

"Classified." Winter said.

"Oh course it is." Tai sighed and placed his hands behind his head and closed his eyes; he opened them when Summer poked him and leaned to whisper something in his ear. His eyes slowly widened and he looked at her while she just looked at him solemnly before he looked at Walker's sleeping form and shot him a solemn look. Winter looked at the two with a raised eyebrow.

"Is there something I should know?" She asked.

"No." Tai lied.

"I can clearly see through your lie Mr. Xiao Long." Winter said.

"That's because it's not my liberty to tell." He said making Winter slightly narrow her eyes at him.

"Is it about Lieutenant Walker?" Winter asked.

"Why can't you just call him Walker?" Tai asked.

"Because I am not that well acquainted with him." Winter said.

"Well try to be, he's a good kid. I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to be addressed as Lieutenant all the time." He said.

"Until he says otherwise I will address him as Lieutenant." She said.

"Please drop the formal act, it's not serving any of us any good." Summer said.

"I cannot Mrs. Rose. This is how I am during my missions." Winter said.

"I know... well I don't know, but can you just drop it for this one?" Summer asked.

"I cannot, now what were you two discussing about Lieutenant Walker?" Winter asked.

"Like I said before, it's not my liberty to say. Now can we please drop it?" Tai asked with some agitation.

"If it is a matter that is beneficial to gathering information about him then no." Winter answered. Taiyang scowled and pinched the bridge of his nose before sighing in annoyance.

"Listen, I know you want to get to know him and everything but just let this go. It's not my liberty to say or Summer's it's Walker's, so if you want the information so bad then just ask him." He said. Winter looked ready to ask another Question before Walker sat up and looked at them... except his helmet lights weren't blue, they were yellow.

"Fred, Kelly, Amelia! If you three don't shut the fuck up and stop arguing about stupid bullshit, then I'll throw you three to the fucking Kryll myself!" He cursed before falling back asleep, leaving the three staring at his prone figure. Winter stared at it a few seconds longer before straightening herself and staring off into space. Summer jumped a bit before staring with wide eyes at Walker's outburst, while Tai just looked at Walker's prone figure curiously, wondering why his helmet lights changed. The rest of the ride was filled with an uncomfortable silence as the three adults just stared off into space, while Walker slept... making quiet growls in his sleep.

* * *

The bullhead landing with a thump making the occupants stir in their sleep before groaning and getting up. Taiyang was the first one up and saw that Summer and Winter were slowly waking up, while Walker still slept soundly. His breathing was slow and quiet; he stirred in his sleep before he got in a comfortable position and resumed his slumber. Taiyang almost felt bad for waking him up but shook his head, he needed to get him up and take a look at the scene; the murders were getting more and more frequent and it was drawing more grimm from the negativity. Tai sighed and went over to Walker, shaking him a few times before backing up and watch as he stirred and looked at Tai.

"Are we there?" Walker asked tiredly.

"Yeah, come on kid." Taiyang said as he offered Walker a hand. Walker took the offered hand and stood up, stretching his muscles out and rotating his neck before he picked up his shotgun and lancer, placing them on his back. He walked out of the bullhead and noticed that the sun was barely peeking over the horizon; he sighed and looked at his watch to see that it was 6:30 in the morning.

"So where's the scene at?" Walker asked, walking besides Tai and Summer while Winter took up the rear.

"This way." Summer said as she lead the four to the scene. Walker couldn't help but notice that the town looked old, not in the way of old as in bad, more as in old-fashioned old. While it lacked in modern technology it had a sort of feeling that brought a warm fuzzy feeling to it, he wouldn't mind living here at all. They walked for a few minutes and saw a two story brick house that had police tape at the front door, all of them ducked underneath the tape and entered the house. The house was small compared to the outside with the living room connecting to the kitchen and dining room while the rooms were split on either side of the house; the master bedroom to the left and the bathroom and other two bedrooms to the right. There seemed to be an upstairs that led to another bathroom, first door on the left while the guest bedroom was straight ahead and another room to the right. Aside from the absolute great looking interior design the entire house was a mess; the walls had numerous holes in them, many of them looked to be bullet holes. Claw marks could be seen on the floors and walls while blood splattered all over the floor, the air smelled rotten the closer he got to the master bedroom and walked towards it and opened the door. Inside the room was a male body that looked to be ripped to shreds, the body had a gaping hole in the chest area while the stomach area was mostly gone and spread across the room and the head seemed to be smashed to a soupy mix of skull fragments and brain matter, caking the ground like a sick twisted piece of art. Walker walked closer to the body and inspected it, he noticed that the man seemed to be holding a rifle in his hand and tried to use it since there were casings littering the ground.

"Walker we found-" He turned around to see Summer hold her hand up to her mouth, staring wide-eyed at the mutilated corpse.

"I'm guessing this is your murder victim?" Walker asked stoically. Summer looked at him then back at the corpse and shook her head.

"No, the one we're looking at was upstairs. When did this happen?" She asked.

"I don't know, but I'm guessing hours ago since the body still seems a bit fresh." Walker said as he walked past her and went upstairs, he saw Taiyang and Winter inside the back bedroom. When he arrived he saw another corpse but this one seemed to be killed at a more tolerate level, a simple shot to the head with an unknown weapon. Walker brushed past the two and knelt down to inspect the body, from the looks of it the person was identified as a female in her late thirties, early forties at most, and had wolf ears on top of her head. She seemed to be carrying a weapon also judging by the pistol in her hands and the spent casings that also littered the room, her body seemed to be killed around the same time as the unidentified male.

"What do you think Walker?" Tai asked as he knelt down next to Walker, who gave no reaction and just stared at the corpse. Walker lifted the corpse and moved hair out of the way, ignoring the blood that was caking his fingers, and began to take a closer look at the exit wound.

"Lieutenant, what is it?" Winter asked.

"Someone shot this woman with a rifle based weapon." Walker said without any sign of emotion in his voice. Both Taiyang and Winter were taken aback by his lack of emotion, his warm personality was replaced with a cold calculating one. Tai didn't see the boy who had wiggled his way into his heart, he saw a cold hardened person that didn't tolerate any errors and personally... it scared him a little.

"How do you know?" Tai asked. Walker lifted the corpse and showed Tai the exit wound that seemed to take a chunk of the woman's head.

"Seen it happen to many times. She probably hit the floor before she even realized what was going on, and judging by the decomposition of her body; she had died at the same time as the man." Walker said.

"What?! There's another body?!" Tai asked as he looked around.

"Yeah, in the master bedroom. But I would brace yourself and get Summer out of the room. The man was killed by being mutilated." Walker said making Tai bolt out of the room, he heard Tai say something to Summer and the front door open and close, leaving him alone with Winter.

"Lieutenant Walker-" She started.

"Just call me Walker. You don't need to address me by my rank every time you talk to me." Walker said as he picked up a casing and inspected it.

"Right, what can you say about this?" She asked.

"What I see is either an out of control grimm, a psychopathic faunus hater, or something worse." Walker said. The two sat in silence as Walker continued to inspect the body before turning and entering the bedroom on the right side of the hallway. The room was baby blue and slightly larger due to the color, it had a bed near the far right side of the room, a T.V on the opposite side and the closet next to the T.V. He glanced around the room and noticed a picture on the t.v stand, picking it up and inspecting it he noticed that there was three people in it; the man, woman, a teenage boy and an unidentified girl.

"What is it?" Winter asked.

"There's a a teenager and a child." Walker said as he handed Winter the picture; she inspected it before gently putting it back on the stand.

"Where do you think they are?" Winter asked as she inspected the room.

"I hope to find the answer to that." Walker said as he walked around the room but stopped when he heard something shuffle from inside the closet. Winter had apparently heard it too since she slowly placed one of her hands on her sword while looking at Walker for confirmation, he slowly nodded and gestured for her to stack up by the closet door. When she did he then started counting down with his fingers while aiming at the closet with a steady hand. Winter opened the door and Walker quickly entered the walk in closet and scanned around, he heard something drop next to him and caught a kitchen knife that was aimed at his kidney, he looked to see the unidentified girl from the photo stare at him with wide eyes that held fear. She tried harder to drive the knife in his kidney but didn't move it any further and was suddenly thrown off balance when Walker whipped the knife from her grasp and threw it out of the closet. She fell backwards and began to crawl away from him while he knelt down to her level.

"Go away!" She shouted while throwing numerous items at him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa kid. I'm not going to hurt you." He said with his hands in the air. She stared at him in fear and still tried to crawl away from him as he stayed put, eventually her shuffling stopped and she backed herself in the corner and tried to make herself look as small as possible.

"Look... why don't you just... come out of here and talk to me." Walker said.

"No! The monsters will get me too." She said. Walker sighed and rubbed his head before standing up and walking out of the closet, Winter stood to the side and occasionally peered inside.

"Summer needs to be here." Walker whispered.

"Why?" Winter asked.

"The girl obviously won't talk to me." Walker said and looked outside the window, he saw Summer hugging Taiyang tightly with her head in the crook of his neck, her shoulders were shaking indicating that she was crying.

"I still need to try though." Walker said to himself and entered the closet again, he sat down a couple feet away from the girl as she stared at him with fear.

"Come on... I promise I won't hurt you." He said.

"H-how do I know you won't?" She asked fearfully.

"Look, I'm one of the ones that gets rid of the monsters." He said as he gestured towards his weapons but this made her recede further back.

"The monsters carried those too." She said.

"What?" He said.

"Y-yeah, they carried those then they carried my brother away." She said. Walker sighed and thought about this whole situation, he lifted his helmet and lowered it before staring into space for a few minutes.

"Tell you what kid, why don't we get to know each other?" He asked after a few minutes of silence.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Like get to know each other so we're not strangers. I'm Walker." He said with an outstretched hand. She looked at his hand for a minute before tentatively scooting forward and shaking his.

"I-I'm Rachel." She said.

"Nice to meet you. You mind coming out of that corner?" He asked.

"Are you going to hurt me?" She asked.

"Not in a million years kid." He said.

"Promise?" She asked.

"Pinkie." Walker said as he held up his pinkie finger, she reached forward and wrapped hers around his and slowly came out from the corner and follow Walker into the room. She hid behind his leg when she caught sight of Winter staring at her.

"Winter stop, you're scaring her." Walker said.

"How?" She asked.

"You're giving her that stare." He said.

"What stare?" She asked.

"That stare." He said as he pointed to her face making her scowl.

"Walker I'm not doing anything and would you get your finger out of my face?" She huffed.

"Mkay." Walker said in a strange voice, making Rachel laugh. Walker was about to lead them out of the room but stopped when he thought about the dead bodies, he couldn't put a child through the same pain he and his brother went through.

"Okay Rachel... I need you to do something. Do you think you can do that?" He asked.

"Mhmm." Rachel nodded.

"Okay, think of this as... think of this as a game, okay? You got to close your eyes and plug your nose. If you open them you'll lose... you got it?" Walker asked.

"Yep." Rachel nodded.

"Good..." Walker said as he grabbed her hand and lead her out of the room. He walked downstairs and made his way out of the door, he waited until Winter was out of the house and shut the door to prevent anything from coming out. Summer and Tai turned around to see a little girl next to Walker and raised an eyebrow before realizing that she was one of the missing persons.

"Hey, Rachel. Why don't you get to know Ms. Winter some more alright?" He asked.

"Okay..." She said quietly and walked up to Winter. Walker made his way up to Summer and Tai and lead them out of earshot from the other two; he glanced back before putting them in a group huddle.

"She's one of the missing persons, where'd you find her?" Tai asked.

"In the closet, she almost stabbed me with a knife." Walker said.

"What?!" Summer whispered.

"Yeah, she failed though. Obviously, but that's besides the point. Apparently something took her brother away." Walker said.

"But what?" Tai asked.

"That's what I want to know. We already know it can't be grimm since they don't use guns-" Walker whispered.

"Guns?" Summer asked.

"Yeah, the attackers used guns like me when they took her brother." Walker said. His mind went into a deep thought like trance the more he thought about it and started to flick the safety on and off of his lancer as time passed, something he does when he thinks, before he was suddenly brought out by his scroll vibrating. He pulled it out to see it was a text from Ruby.

 _"Hey Walker! How's the investigation going?"_ She asked.

 _"It's going fine, thanks for asking. How're you guys?"_ He asked.

 _"We're doing good."_ She typed.

 _"How's Yang?"_ He asked.

 _"She's feeling a bit better. She's been wondering where you've been though."_ She said.

 _"Tell her I'm just doing some stuff with your parents... listen I got to go alright?"_ He asked.

 _"Yeah, we'll see you tomorrow right?"_ She asked.

 _"Looks that way, see you tomorrow."_ Walker typed.

 _"Okay! See you tomorrow!"_ Ruby typed. He put his scroll away and looked up to see the sun starting to rise up, sighing at the long day ahead of him he tapped his lancer. Rachel walked away from Winter and walked up to Walker and pulled on his hand, he looked down to see she had a picture in her hand.

"Mr. Walker, where's my mom and dad?" She asked, making the three freeze. Tai and Summer looked away while Walker just stared at Rachel, he sighed before kneeling down to her level and looking her in the eye.

"Rachel... what do you remember your parents as?" Walker asked. Rachel gave a goofy smile before answering.

"My mom is the best! She makes all these sweets and other good food with my dad's help. My dad is so brave that any monster will run away from him when he comes near!" She boasted proudly making Walker crack a small smile before sighing.

"Alright... your parents uh... your parents..." Walker trailed off making her tilt her head.

"My parents are what?" She asked.

"Your parents are good people okay? They wanted to let you know that." Walker said quietly.

"Okay... but where are they?" She asked.

"...Do you know what heaven is?" He asked. She shook her head making Walker sigh.

"Heaven is basically a place where really good people go when they... sleep." He said.

"Do they ever come back?" Rachel asked.

"No... they don't." He said solemnly.

"B-but what about the people they care about?" She asked, tearing up a bit.

"They usually watch over them and try to guide them in the right direction." He said.

"S-so you mean that they're... gone?" She asked as tears began to pour out of the corner of her eyes. Walker didn't say anything and nodded; she looked at him with tears flowing out of her eyes like a river and sat on the ground wailing in anguish. Summer and Tai were about to intervene but stopped when they saw Walker slowly pull her into a hug and let her cry into his shoulder, they saw her tightly grip the picture and hug him tighter as time progressed. He lifted her off the ground and carried her to a nearby bench before sitting her on it and sitting next to her; she leaned on his arm and sobbed with her hands on her eyes to try and rub away the tears. Walker slowly rubbed her back in small circles to try and calm her down as she continued to sob loudly, eventually her sobs became sniffles and her sniffles became silent tears.

"Rachel?" Walker asked. She looked up at him with red puffy eyes that almost made him crack but held his composure.

"I know this is hard but I need to ask you two questions, okay?" He asked carefully.

"Okay..." She said quietly.

"Do you have anybody to stay with?" He asked.

"I have my grandma, but she lives in Vale." She said.

"Okay, that's good. Did you happen to see what these monsters looked like?" He asked.

"Not really, it was to dark to see. B-but they were big and scary, they carried guns like you, and had this little thing leading them around. It screamed a lot before I heard my brother scream." She shuddered. Walker nodded and looked over to Winter, Summer, and Taiyang to see them writing down notes; he shook his head at them making the three put the notebooks down and sit down next to the two.

"Alright sweetie, we're going to do some more digging around. Is there anything we should know?" Summer asked. Rachel shook her head and looked down; Walker looked at her before looking back at the others.

"I'm going to stay here." Walker said.

"You sure? I mean there isn't anything wrong with it but shouldn't you at least help look around?" Tai asked.

"Yep, that's what these are for." Walker said as he gestured towards the scroll in his hand. Tai laughed a bit before his expression turned serious.

"You know when we find something, you need to be there asap right?" He asked.

"Definitely, now go on shoo." Walker ushered the three away, lightening the mood a bit. Once they left he turned to see Rachel blankly staring at the picture of her parents at a beach, she flipped it over and read the message left on the back before placing it in her pocket. He took his Gnasher off his back and put the safety on before slightly shaking it around, making the water like skin ripple in effect. Rachel took a side glance at it then put her full attention on it when Walker poked the shotgun in a certain place and made it ripple, she quickly turned away when he turned his attention towards her.

"I see you're curious about my shotgun." Walker mused.

"No." Rachel lied.

"Ha, liar. I saw you looking at it." Walker said.

"Nu-uh, I wasn't." Rachel denied.

"Huh, must be going a little crazy." He said as he slapped the side of his helmet.

"Maybe you are." She joked. The two sat in silence for a minute before Walker sat up and stretched before leaning back.

"It's alright if you were, showing my weapons doesn't bother me." He said.

"C-can I see it?" She asked.

"Yeah, be careful though. I don't want to be known as the guy who let a kid hold a loaded shotgun." He said as he handed it to her, she carefully took it and buckled when the weight dragged her down. She lifted it up and set it on her lap and inspected it, carefully rotating it and taking in every detail. Her attention was centered on how the water seemed to move around but keep her hands dry, she shook it quickly and laughed when the skin seemed to go haywire then eventually calm. While shaking the shotgun some more, she wasn't paying attention and accidentally aimed it at Walker's face making him quickly grab the barrel, shoving it away from his face.

"Whoa kid, watch where you point that thing." Walker laughed.

"Oops... sorry." Rachel laughed nervously.

"Don't worry about it. Let's keep this as a secret between us okay?" Walker whispered.

"Okay." Rachel whispered back while giggling.

"I didn't get to say this earlier but... I'm sorry about your parents." Walker said making Rachel's eyes go wide for a second before she looked down again.

"Thanks, but at least they're in a better place right?" She asked while looking at him.

"Yeah. Tell you what, how about we walk around town for a minute. Take our minds off the tragedy?" He asked.

"I-I'd like that." She said and hopped off the bench.

"Well come on kid, this town's not going to explore itself." He said as he offered a hand; Rachel stared at the hand before slowly grabbing it and squeezing tightly, exploring her hometown with Walker.

* * *

 **Hours later:**

"And then what happened?" Rachel asked.

"Then I tackled Fred to the ground and sat on the back of his head until he gave me my helmet back." Walker said making Rachel laugh. The two had practically explored every inch of the town with the exception of her house, he tried to keep her away from the place where she lost her family. He felt her tug on his hand and looked down to see her looking at him.

"Mr. Walker? Will you find my brother?" She asked. Walker stopped for a second and stared at her, he turned his head and sighed deeply as he thought about her brother. For all he knew the guy could have the same fate as the parents and show up as one of the lost lives in this case or he could show up as another missing person that you see on the news. He looked at Rachel and saw that she had this look on her face... the look of one last hope that held onto whatever remained of herself. He couldn't lie to her and say that she would find her brother but he also couldn't deny her request and brush it off as another lost cause, he would do the last thing he could; say he would try. While it wasn't a true promise it also wasn't an empty one, it was the type that broke even between the two sides. He sighed again and looked at her face.

"I'll try my best. I'll try my damnedest to try and find your brother and bring him home to you, that much I can promise." He said, quietly reprimanding himself for making a promise. Rachel looked somewhat satisfied with the answer, she looked happy that he would at least try but was saddened knowing there was a possibility that she could lose her sibling too.

"Okay. I believe you." She said.

"That's all I'm asking." He said, he looked up to see that a bullhead was approaching and was beginning to land a couple of yards from them.

"Alright kid, if you need someone to talk to then call this number. I'll try to pick up and help you out." Walker said as he pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down his scroll number before handing it to Rachel.

"If you find my brother, you'll tell me?" She asked hopefully.

"The second I find him." Walker assured. The bullhead landed and the bay door opened to reveal an elderly woman with a worried expression, despite her being in her sixties she looked to be around forty. She quickly spotted Rachel and practically ran over to her and embrace her in a hug; she cried and tightened her hug more.

"Are you okay? I heard what happened and got here as soon as I could." She said as she looked over Rachel, after she was done she noticed Walker and jumped back at his appearance.

"Nana this is Walker." Rachel introduced.

"A pleasure." Walker said as he stuck his hand out. The woman shook his hand and backed up a bit.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"I'm one of the people sent to investigate." He said.

"Where are the others?" She asked.

"Currently they are finding more clues." He said.

"Shouldn't you be helping them?" She asked.

"Couldn't leave the little tike here alone, so I decided to be the one to stay behind." He said as he gestured towards Rachel.

"You're not supposed to call me that!" Rachel stomped making Walker laugh.

"Sorry kid, but I decided to watch her while the others looked around." He said.

"Well I'm thankful, not everyone here takes to kindly to a faunus." The lady said.

"Faunus?" Walker asked.

"Yeah, she's a faunus." The woman said as she moved a bit of Rachel's hair out of the way to reveal two small ears.

"Huh, well how about that. You're just full of surprises kid." Walker commented.

"I wasn't sure how you'd react." Rachel rubbed the back of her neck.

"Meh, just another unique thing about you." Walker shrugged.

"You seem awfully lenient about her being a faunus." The lady said.

"Hey, my girlfriend is one." He lied.

"Really?" The lady said shocked.

"Yeah... want to see a picture?" He asked.

"Sure." She said. Walker pulled out his scroll and pulled up his gallery, sighing as he scrolled through numerous photos Ruby had taken of him, her, and the rest of the team. He finally got to a picture of him, Blake, and Yang; he zoomed in so it was just him and Blake showing before flipping the scroll around and showing the two.

"Wow, so you don't mind about her being a faunus?" The lady asked.

"Pshh, nope. Being a faunus is the most unique thing about her." Walker complemented making the two smile.

"Well I'm glad, though I wish more people would be like you." The lady said.

"Heh, not everyone is should be like me. I'm not a saint but I at least see people as equals no matter what they look like." He said.

"Hmm, alright. Though I have a matter I must discuss with you... Rachel can you wait on the bullhead?" The lady asked. Rachel nodded and started to walk off but stopped, she suddenly gave Walker a hug making him laugh a bit and hug her back before scampering off to the bullhead. They both smiled before the lady turned to Walker with a solemn expression.

"How bad is it?" She choked out. Walker sighed and rubbed the top of his helmet, looking down the street at the house.

"Bad... one of the investigators had to take his wife out of the house and calm her down." Walker said. The woman looked down the street and rubbed her eyes as tears began to well at the corners of them.

"How'd she die?" She asked.

"Rifle shot through the head. She had probably dropped faster than she could realize what was going on, the husband though... it's messy." Walker said. The woman nodded and paced back and forth before she stopped.

"Where's Ian?" She asked.

"Who?" Walker asked.

"Rachel's older brother. Where is he?" The lady asked frantically, she began to hyperventilate and look around before she was suddenly gripped by the shoulders.

"That's what we're trying to figure out. As I told Rachel earlier, I'm going to try and find him but I don't want to make a promise that I will. I'm not saying that I won't look for him but I'm also saying prepare for the worst if we don't." Walker said. The woman looked at him before nodding and control her breathing, she looked back at the house one more time before clenching her eyes shut and taking a deep breath.

"Okay... but please. Try to bring my grandson home." She pleaded.

"I'll try." Walker said.

"This whole thing is a disaster." She sighed and walked towards the bullhead. He saw the bullhead door slowly closing and Rachel waving at him as it did. A vibration from his scroll suddenly caught his attention making him sigh and look at it.

 _"Kid, we found another hole and-"_ Walker stopped reading the text them moment he saw the word hole. Barely wasting any time he ran towards the source.

* * *

"Look officer, I'm telling you we have someone who can possibly tell us what this is." Summer said as she tried to convince the officer to let them continue.

"It's been all day ma'am if he doesn't show up then I'll be forced to make you leave." The officer sighed. Numerous people gathered around to try and see what was behind the police but were stopped by numerous officers and tape, the three were currently waiting on Walker.

"Look, I'm closing this scene and-" The officer was interrupted when someone brushed past him and marched towards the hole.

"Hey where do you think you're going?" Another officer yelled.

"Towards the investigation scene." Walker said but stopped when an officer gripped his shoulder.

"This isn't a place for kids." He said.

"First don't call me a fucking kid because I'm pretty sure I have more balls than you and two I'm part of the investigation." Walker said as he shrugged off the hand. The officer scowled and was about to retaliate but was interrupted when Tai stepped in.

"It's alright officer, he's with us." He said.

"And you're sure?" The officer asked.

"I'm positive. Just let him through, he might know what's going on." Tai said.

"And you plan to share any information with us?" The officer asked.

"I'm under orders from Beacon, I'll need to pass information through them before I can give it to you." Tai said.

"Figures... fucking huntsman." The officer growled. Taiyang's eyes darkened as he glared at the officer but stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned to see Walker shake his head and gesture towards the hole. Walker pushed past Summer and Winter before staring at the hole, his eyes widened behind his helmet the longer he stared at it and took in its features. His knuckles turned white from clenching his fist so tight and his teeth grit against each other in a forceful manner, he equipped his lancer and began to flick the safety on and off of it quickly.

"Walker?" Summer asked.

"Walker what is it?" Winter asked as she observed his odd behavior. His vision suddenly warped and changed as he stared at the hole a bit longer. A white flash enveloped his vision and he suddenly found himself back on Sera in the city, staring at a closed up hole; he looked down to see that he was in his recruit armor and was slightly skinnier. He looked back at the hole and saw it open before multiple hands slowly gripped the edges of the hole in a creepy manner and multiple yellow eyes could be seen coming from the depths below, glaring at him in malicious intent. Quickly reaching behind him and grabbing his frag grenade, he threw it inside the hole and waited a few seconds to hear the beeping noise and watched in satisfaction as multiple growls and squeals could be heard as the hands retracted from the edges of the hole and sunk down into the dark abyss where multiple people's screams could be heard.

"Walker, what is wrong with you?!" He head Tai shout. He looked around to see all the officers pointing their weapons at him and the civilians hid behind the police, while Summer, Tai, and Winter backed up from him and stared at him in caution.

"What?" He asked.

"What do you mean what?" An officer exclaimed still having her weapon on him. Walker looked at her and slowly walked closer to her making her freeze up as he stood in front of her. He grabbed her hand and put the pistol up to the center of his helmet and just stared at her.

"What are you doing?!" Summer shouted.

"What are you waiting for officer?" He asked.

"What?" She asked.

"I said what are you waiting for? Pull the trigger. Go on, do it. Pull the trigger! Pull the fucking trigger!" He shouted and moved his head away before scoffing at her as she shook in her boots. He looked around to see multiple back away from him and the officers still have their weapons trained on him.

"If you're going to shoot me then do it already. Show the people what kind of men and women of the law enforcement are really made of." Walker said with his arms spread out, he looked around to see the police slowly put their weapons away. He scoffed and brushed past Winter who stared at him oddly and knelt down near the hole, seeing that it was not open, something he never thought he'd do, he decided to do what no man had done on Sera. Enter it.

"Walker what is wrong with you?" Winter said as she grabbed his shoulder.

"I'm fucking stressed alright?" He said as he shrugged off her hand.

"Why?" Tai asked.

"Because Tai. This is a fucking emergence hole." Walker whispered harshly as he stared down the hole, looking into its dark abyss-like appearance.

"What's an emergence hole?" Summer whispered.

"Something I never thought I would see again but I can see I'm wrong." He seethed. The four stood in silence before Walker sighed and sat at the edge and slowly slid down.

"Kid, what are you doing?" Tai sighed.

"Doing what no man has done on Sera." Walker whispered.

"And that is?" Winter asked.

.

.

.

"Follow the tunnel into hell itself." Walker whispered and jumped inside of the hole, plunging into what can be described as the road to hell itself.

* * *

 **Well holy shit 16,944 words, and that's not including the author's note. Anyways thanks for reading this chapter and sorry it took so long; I had to focus on school and didn't feel like slacking off at the start. So the next chapter will still be in the investigation and I wanted to sort of build up into the investigation with half the chapter being the rising action of it. I did a little section of Cinder just to input her into the story and decided to at least try to make the start of the investigation interesting. Don't have much to say other than you know the golden rule about reviews and I'll catch you all on the flip side. Take it easy.**


	7. Chapter 7: Investigation(s) part 2

**AN: Alright everybody, here's the deal I've been struggling with my Japanese class for a minute now, third year is hard, and I feel like I'm going backwards instead of forwards. This is still going to be a chapter but I'm just asking anybody who takes a foreign language, is there any study habits I can pick up? Because in all seriousness, I actually love that class but I feel that it's too much to handle if I keep going at the pace I'm going at. So if you have any habits I can pick up then just put in the reviews because if you PM me then I'll never look at it. Anyways aside from my personal problems in my life I believe we have some reviews to discuss, yeah?**

 **StelarToe6133: Close enough so yeah, you do. Basically the golden rule about reviews is if you don't like the story then just politely leave because I usually write this for fun and putting an asshole review is a buzzkill.**

 **Digital: Thanks for being excited for it, appreciate that I've been able to keep your interest this long.**

 **jkdelta38: Thanks for the review, but there are other stories that are actually pretty good in these two crossovers.**

 **Without further adieu let's roll on with the fucking story!**

* * *

Walker slid down the angled slope while digging his right hand in the dirt to slow his descent, keeping his left hand on the lancer's grip. As the descent into the hole became darker and darker Walker's drive to find the source became greater almost until the point where he didn't notice the ground coming close to him. At the last second he jumped and soared through the air before colliding with the ground and performing a combat roll, equipping the lancer and aiming forward, scanning the area with extreme focus. He turned on his flashlight on the right side of the barrel and continued to wait for the rest to arrive. While most lancers didn't have flashlights on them, his did due to him customizing it when dead echo had nothing else to do on the ship. It served its purpose in most cases due to the team having nightly patrols when they hunted an HVT, while Fenix and his team were known to perform the impossible, Walker's was known to take down high value targets that were an immediate threat or be a threat in the future. His reminiscing was cut short when the sound of dirt shifting resonated behind him and three figures landed with a dull thump. Winter, Summer, and Tai noticed Walker had his weapon equipped and at the ready, his stance told signs that he was experienced in battle and was completely focused while his aim was steady. All three noticed how dark it was and pulled out their scroll and turned on the flashlight function, the cave system was so dark that even their scroll lights couldn't see the end.

"Walker?" Summer asked.

"..." He gave no reply but just glanced back at her.

"What is this?" She asked, looking around.

"An emergence hole." He said stoically, it was Summer's turn to be surprised at his lack of emotion. She looked back at Tai to see him have the same expression as her then shrug.

"What is an emergence hole?" Winter asked.

"Tunnels that locust would use to send in infantry units to the surface. They seem to have a limit of locust that come out but I never really cared since I always sealed them up." He Walker said. He didn't bother to wait for any other questions and walked ahead keeping the lancer at the ready, the four explored the tunnel in silence with the exception of dirt falling and water dripping from the moisture of the tunnel. The four had arrived at a two way intersection after exploring for ten minutes, on the left was a dark tunnel that seemed to have rock covering it and on the right was equally as dark but seemed to have just dirt covering it.

"So which way should we go?" Summer asked.

"I vote right." Tai said aiming his flashlight down the dirt tunnel.

"I say we go left." Winter said.

"I mean I think we should go left because the right could collapse anytime." Summer said.

"Fine... well kid I guess we're going left." Tai sighed.

"No, we're not." Walker said, kneeling down and picking up some dirt. He grind it between his finger before throwing it back on the ground and standing up.

"What? Why not?" Tai asked.

"While the girls are right about it collapsing, it won't." Walker said making his way towards the right tunnel. Everyone quickly followed Walker while Summer and Winter stating their disapproval.

"Walker, we said we should go left. Why are we going right?" Summer said.

"I have to agree with Mrs. Rose. We said we were going left." Winter agreed.

"We're not going left for a reason." Walker said.

"Why's that?" Summer asked.

"Where did the hole lead to?" Walker asked back.

"I don't know, somewhere else?" Summer asked confused.

"It lead back to Rachel's house, that's where. If we followed that tunnel then we would have gone in circles." He said.

"What?" She asked.

"Yep, as I was about to head back to her house I saw it right before Tai sent me a text saying you three found another hole." He said.

"So you mean to tell me that whatever killed her parents were right at their doorstep?" Tai asked.

"Yes, and there's a good chance that whatever took her brother disappeared in that hole, so if we went left we would have just went in a big circle and wasted time." Walker explained.

"Kid... do you know what took her brother then?" Tai asked.

"No... and if it's what I think it is then we had better prepare for war." Walker said seriously.

"You don't think they're here do you?" Summer asked.

"I have my doubts but if they are then we're in deep shit." He said. Everyone went quiet for a minute before Winter spoke up.

"Can't you try to be diplomatic with them?" Winter asked. Walker stared at her for a minute before bursting out laughing, scaring everybody at his sudden outburst but later backed away when his laughing grew into a dark one.

"No you can't! They are a race of violent subterranean beings that know nothing of diplomacy, because if they did then almost all of Sera would be alive!" He laughed and lifted his helmet to wipe away a tear.

"But hasn't anyone tried to?" Summer asked.

"Yeah, Marcus Fenix's father did. But apparently their queen didn't bother to stick around long enough to try and listen before she began her violent genocide on all of humanity." He said. After that sentence everything went quiet as the four trekked through the tunnel. Tai coughed as the air began to get stuffy the further they went as did everyone else except Walker, who just continued to walk forward.

"Walker *cough* can we *cough* stop for a *cough cough* second?" Summer coughed as she knelt down on the ground. Walker stopped and looked at her for a second before nodding and leaning against a wall while keeping over watch; Tai and Winter knelt beside her and patted her back to try and get some of the dust out of her system. Her coughing became more violent the longer she stayed on the ground before Walker pushed past the two and handed her something, she looked up to see a gas mask in his hand before shakily taking it and slowly putting it around her face. At first the air smelled slightly old but it did stop her cough and help clean oxygen flow into her lungs.

"Thanks." Summer breathed and was helped up by Tai.

"You got any more?" Tai asked.

"I have three but I need them back after this." Walker said, digging in his pockets located near his thighs and lower right leg and handing both of them a gas mask. Winter slightly gagged at the smell of the mask but then later sighed in relief when clean air started to make its way into her lungs, Tai merely brushed off the smell and took a big sniff of the clean oxygen. He raised an eyebrow when Walker put the last mask in his pocket.

"You don't need one?" He asked.

"No, my helmet has an auto filter in it." Walker said.

"Damn, must be nice." Tai said.

"Yeah it is, it's also good for when stranded decide to confuse me for a glowie." Walker said and started to continue the trek down the tunnel, leaving the other three confused about the term glowie. As the four were walking in the tunnel in silence a scuttling noise could be heard from behind making all of them whip around at the source of the noise, seeing nothing but dirt with tiny dents in it they turned back around to continue their trek. Tai heard more scuttling behind and whipped around to see nothing once again but narrowed his eyes in suspicion before turning around, he picked up his pace and was soon next to Walker.

"Damn, how long is this tunnel?" Tai asked.

"I don't know, and personally I don't care." Walker said without any emotion. He checked the time to see it was almost five-thirty and sighed before stopping suddenly when he heard something in the distance. Everyone else stopped when they heard the noise too, Walker began to roadie run with the others keeping low to the ground and following him. When they got to the edge of the tunnel they came across a massive cave system that made them realize they were deeper in the ground than they realized. The four arrived at a cliff's edge to see a giant river of something that illuminated the cave system that they were in. The liquid was a bio-luminescent liquid that had produced massive amounts of light, illuminating it to a neon yellow color. On the other side was figures that were to far away to see but were carrying boxes and stacking them somewhere. Walker looked at the other three and gestured for them to go prone while crawling towards the edge of the cliff and peering at the scene in front of him.

"Wow." Summer said in awe at the glowing river in front of her. Tai and Winter couldn't help but agree while Walker's brows furrowed immensely, he gave a low growl as he didn't even pay attention to the river but on the figures across. Summer looked towards her right and saw the low-viscosity glowing liquid come out of an opening and splash across the rock and into the river like a waterfall; her curiosity got the better of her and she walked up to it. Her hand slowly reached out to touch it but was grabbed in an iron grip, making her wince, and brought away from it.

"Do. Not. Touch. That." Walker said forcefully making her look at him. Tai got up to see Summer's hand in Walker's grip and scowled at him.

"Walker... what are you doing?" Tai said.

"Saving your wife." Walker said and let Summer's hand go. Tai grabbed Walker's shoulder and glared at him.

"And how were you doing that? Because all I saw was you grabbing my wife's hand." Tai said. The two stared at each other for a minute in a deadlock before Walker whipped his arm out of Tai's grasp, he walked towards the cliff's edge and went prone.

"I saved her from a very dangerous substance that could have killed her in a few weeks." Walker said after a short pause. Winter's eyebrow suddenly raised at what he said.

"How could this substance killed her?" She asked.

"This 'substance' is a dangerous thing I hope the eggheads on the surface never discover, because if they do then all of the world will perish." Walker said looking at the figures across the river.

"You never answered my question Lieutenant-" She said.

"I'm not your fucking Lieutenant!" Walker snapped, surprising her. His breathing was hard and forced as he stared at the three, who looked at him differently, before sighing and taking a few calm breaths to control himself.

"...This is what's called imulsion, a dangerous substance that the people on Sera used as a resource." Walker sighed.

"What makes it dangerous?" Winter asked.

"Imulsion isn't a resource it's a parasite." Walker said surprising the three.

"Why on Remnant would you all use a parasite as a resource?!" Summer exclaimed.

"We didn't know it was one until a few years after my home sunk, that's basically what the pendulum wars were all about." Walker explained.

"So you mean to tell me you all fought a short war for this?" Tai asked.

"If 79 years is a short war then yes we did." Walker said.

"Wait! It was 79 years?!" Summer gasped.

"Yeah, we only had six weeks of peace before we fought the seventeen long war with the locust." He said.

"So all those soldiers who just got back from the war didn't even get to live the life they wanted before being thrust in another one?" She asked somberly.

"Yeah, my dad fought in the pendulum wars." He said. Summer and Tai slightly winced when he mentioned his father, before turning away slightly.

"What does this parasite do exactly?" Winter asked.

"Imulsion basically enters the host's body and begins to mutate them as time progresses, direct exposure to it for any length of time will basically transform anything into a form called lambent." He explained.

"Is there anyway to help the infected?" Summer asked in case this stuff ever got out. Her hope was crushed when Walker shook his head and sighed.

"What do you do if they become infected?" Tai asked.

"Only thing you can do... kill them." Walker said making them recoil.

"There's surely another way." Summer said frantically.

"Once the person is completely infected then they're no longer themselves, they become highly aggressive and explosive, and don't care about anything else but spreading the infection." He explained, he then sighed and pressed something on his helmet and began to record the scene in front of him. The other three looked at the liquid in front of them and backed away from it while Summer silently thanked Walker for saving her, even if it seemed harsh. Tai silently reprimanded himself for getting on Walker after he realized that the kid knows more than he does about what's going on, and Winter looked at Walker with interest. She saw someone who had gone through hell and was still standing which indicated that he was a natural born survivor, if she had a choice to pick any soldier in Atlas and him she would gladly choose him. Walker finished recording and stood up to see them look at him.

"We need to move." He said.

"Yeah, but shouldn't we at least try to look around more though?" Tai asked.

"No, if we continue more then we'll never find our way out of here." Walker said and pushed past them. They began to make their way back but were stopped when movement could be heard up ahead, Walker flashed his flashlight then quickly put it down when he realized what it was. He looked around quickly before his eyes caught site of a crevice in the middle of a wall and tackled all three of the adults into it before crawling in himself. As the three collected themselves Tai's eyes turned red with anger as he glared at Walker.

"Kid what the fu-" His mouth was suddenly closed when Walker's hand slapped on it.

"Shut up!" Walker whispered harshly. Tai was about to retaliate but stopped when he heard multiple footsteps echo throughout the tunnel in a marching like manner. He strained his eyes to see but he later widened them when massive feet could be seen in the dark tunnel, the marching continued for a few minutes with everyone stock still before they were slowly quieting in sound and disappeared. The four waited a few more minutes until they knew it the footsteps were gone before Walker slowly took his hand off of Tai's mouth (The mask mouth-piece area anyways) and made a shushing gesture before climbing out of the hole and rolling while aiming the lancer at the direction of where the footsteps disappeared to. Everyone else climbed out of the crevice and stared at Walker's figure, they noticed he looked ready to fight for his life at the moment.

"We need to move right now. And when we do, we need to do it like a bat out of hell." He said seriously. The adults nodded and begun to realize the weight of the situation if Walker looked and sounded like he was prepared to fight. Walker raised his lancer and began to lead them back to the entrance with haste, they moved silently with the exception of their feet hitting the ground below. Summer lifted her mask up to wipe away sweat that was accumulated on her face before putting it back and continuing their way back to the surface. As Winter was keeping in pace with the group she tripped over a large rock and stumbled in her step before tripping. Walker looked back to see her on the ground and quickly made his way over to help her up, while doing so he noticed that the rock was abnormally big, it had blood on it and wasn't there before. A sudden realization washed over him; they were in the caves, there were holes in the walls, silent patrols, and abnormally large rocks that seemed to move on their own.

"Oh my god." He whispered to himself making the other three look at him.

"What?" Tai whispered.

"We're in hunting grounds." Walker said.

"H-hunting grounds?" Summer asked.

"Winter get way from it." Walker said making Winter step away from the large blood rock. Once she did all four aimed their flashlights at the rock and began to scan it before stopping at its head, Summer dropped her scroll and covered her mouth with her hands when she saw the rock suddenly rear its head up to reveal multiple black eyes look up at the ceiling and a fleshy protrusion came out to reveal a vertical mouth that housed razor sharp teeth. The giant worm slithered up to the ceiling and quickly picked something off of it before swallowing it whole. Tai raised his scroll and took a picture but forgot the flash was on and blinded the worm for a second before it plopped back on the ground, creating a loud thump and slithered back into a miniature tunnel. All four just stared at the worm slither back while only one scowled beneath his helmet and stared at the tunnel for a minute. Summer shakily bent down to pick up her scroll and slowly turned the flashlight back on, aiming at the hole where the worm disappeared to.

"W-what was that?" She asked shakily.

"A rock worm, locust usually hunt them for food." Walker said, quickly making his way back to the surface with the others in tow.

"Is it hostile?" Winter asked.

"Not necessarily, they mostly mind their own business as long as you leave them alone. But once you get in front of them they attack you, sometimes it ranges from a minor cut to a large gash. Tip for future references if you encounter one, use it as cover." Walker informed.

"Noted." She said. Light could be seen from down the tunnel but multiple small figures was blocking the way making all four of them hide behind another rock worm that slithered out of a mini tunnel and decided to rest in the middle of the tunnel. Winter began to aim her flashlight but it was suddenly brought down when Walker grabbed her hand and thrust it down.

"Lights off!" He whispered at her before looking back at the figure. All was quiet for a few minutes as the figure just stood in the opening.

"Alright we need to-" Walker stopped when his scroll buzzed, he looked to see Ruby's smiling face pop up on the caller Id and hesitantly answered.

"Hello?" He whispered while keeping an eye on the figure.

"Walker, how's the investigation!?" Ruby shouted from the other side. Her voice echoed loudly throughout the cave system and bounced off the walls, making everyone wince. Walker looked back at the figures which whirled around at the source of the noise and gave a loud shrieks that made everybody's ears ring before they snarled and charged at the four with all of hell's fury resonating from the,. He wasted no time and opened fire as the figures rushed at him.

* * *

All the girls heard a loud chorus of shrieks resonate from the other side of the line and the sound of a stampede before gunfire was heard. Ruby dropped the scroll in shock and and scrambled onto the bed, holding her hands to her mouth. Weiss stared at the scroll with wide eyes and began to slightly chew on the joint of her finger nervously, Yang just gazed at the scroll with a worried expression and leaned back and forth. Blake's grip on the book tightened immensely as she stared at the scroll with a scared expression. The four of them sat in silence while the sound of more gunfire made their hearts jump before feral shrieks could be heard once again, the sound of blades hitting against something was apparent and fist being smashed against something. Their hearts practically jumped out of their chests when the cocking of a shotgun could be heard before a loud crack rang out and the call suddenly ended. Silence enveloped the group as they stared at the scroll on the ground, the silence went from seconds, to minutes, and eventually to an hour while all of them stared at the hand held device. Ruby's eyes started to tear up and she put her face in her hands, she knew she shouldn't have called. Possibly one of her friends and her parents could be dead because of her all because she got a little nosy.

"It's all my fault." She cried.

"No it's not." Yang tried.

"It is Yang! I should have just waited for them to come back!" Ruby shouted.

"No one could have known what was on the other side." Yang said.

"But that doesn't make it right for me to try and find out! They're probably dead because of me and... and..." Ruby trailed off and began to sob. Yang stared at her before engulfing her in a hug, followed by the rest of them. Eventually WBY joined in as the tears began to leak out of their eyes while sitting in silence. The scroll suddenly began buzzing making everyone suddenly perk up and Ruby scramble to get it, she quickly answered it to hear the sound of a bullhead.

"Hello?" She asked quickly.

"Ruby, is everyone there?" She heard Tai ask, he sounded nervous.

"Yeah, are you guys okay?" She asked.

"We're fine but Walker isn't." Tai said making everybody's hearts sink.

"What's wrong with him?" Yang asked worriedly.

"He got hurt pretty bad, listen we're heading back now so go to Ozpin and tell him to get a medical team ready." Tai said. The girls wasted no time and quickly ran out the door, heading to Ozpin's tower. As they ran they didn't notice Jaune's team in their way and inadvertently bumped into them, sending them into different directions.

"Sorry!" Ruby said as she ran from them with the rest of her team following close behind. Jaune shook his head and stood up while offering Pyrrha a hand, who took it gratefully, and stared at the retreating sister team.

"Anybody know what that was about?" He asked.

"No but they did seem worried though." Pyrrha surmised.

"I dunno but what I do know is that Mr. Robot man is letting me keep this awesome weapon!" Nora shouted cheerfully holding up the torque bow which made Ren sweat drop.

"Nora... he isn't letting you keep it. He's letting you borrow it until he comes back." Ren sighed.

"B-but... but whyyyy?" She groaned.

"Because that weapon saved him and I'm pretty sure he won't be happy if you took it, so give it back and wait for Ruby to make you one." Ren said making Nora deflate.

"Okay..." She sighed. Though the four of them continued to talk about Walker, they didn't know the current state he was in.

* * *

Ozpin sat at his office desk as always staring at the computer screen with an impassive face. He had waited to hear back from Tai about the investigation and sipped some of the remaining coffee in the mug, the room was quiet with the exception of Glynda tapping at the tablet she always had. Silence was considered a luxury due to the students he's had this year, throughout all his years this one had to be the loudest considering who he had, so moments like these were always nice. The silence was interrupted when the elevator door opened and team RWBY came in with worried expressions.

"Children, this had better be good." Glynda sighed, rubbing her forehead at the upcoming headache.

"Dad said to get a medical team ready." Ruby said frantically.

"Why's that Ms. Rose?" Ozpin asked.

"Walker's been hurt." Blake said worriedly. Glynda's breath hitched after she head that and looked back at Ozpin, who gave a curt nod, before tapping something on the tablet and nodding back.

"How bad is he?" Glynda asked.

"We don't know, all dad said was to get a medical team ready for when he gets here." Yang said.

"How long ago was this?" Ozpin asked.

"We don't know the exact time he was hurt but we got here a few minutes after dad told us." Ruby said. Ozpin nodded at them and turned to his computer before typing something in.

"A medical team is en route to the cliff side. Girls, go there and wait until your parents and Walker arrive." Ozpin said. The team nodded and quickly left the room leaving a worried Glynda as the only company for Ozpin, he looked at her and nodded which made her wait for the elevator to open and enter it. Ozpin turned back to the computer and sighed at the progression of finding a way to send Walker home, so far the search had come up short with all these situations happening and **her** not making a single move. Times were hard... and they were only going to get harder.

* * *

 **Hours later:**

The sky was dark and cloudy signalling that it was going to start raining soon. The medical team stood at the ready for the past hour, waiting patiently for the designated bullhead to arrive. Team RWBY and Glynda also stood at the docks waiting for the bullhead to arrive with each one having nervous expressions; Ruby paced back and forth, Weiss took shallow breaths, Blake rubbed her eyes to get rid of the tears while her bow twitched, and Yang clenched her fist tightly while sporting a nervous expression. Glynda stood off to the side gripping her crop tightly and stared at the sky. As time progressed rain seemed to descend from the sky making numerous people seek shelter from the upcoming storm, except the select few. The rain began to pick up and pour down at everyone who waited, they were about to go inside when the sound of a bullhead could be heard in the distance.

"Look!" Ruby shouted. They all looked to see a bullhead come in at full speed before landing roughly and opening the bay doors. The medical team rushed over to help put Walker on a gurney and wheel him towards the infirmary, the girls rushed over to Tai, Winter, and Summer who looked like they had been put through hell.

"Are you okay?! What happened?!" Ruby asked frantically. Summer didn't say anything and just pulled Yang and Ruby into a hug and started to cry, not caring if she got wet.

"Winter? What happened?" Weiss asked worriedly.

"He saved us." Winter said looking at the medical team.

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked.

"Weiss, Walker saved us all from some of those things." Winter said, rubbing her eyes.

"I don't understand." Weiss said.

"Look, it's too complicated to explain... I-I need to go." Winter said walking off, leaving her sister confused. Summer let go of Yang and Ruby and began to follow the gurney, quickly catching up to it. The rest of the girls followed it and gasped when they saw the extent of Walker's damage; his shoulder was dislocated, there were numerous lacerations on his stomach and arms, and his breathing was shallow. His chest armor had been removed to asses the damage further but still appeared to be in pristine condition.

"How bad is he?" Glynda asked.

"He flatlined once on the way here and has lost a numerous amount of blood." Summer said. They all entered the academy and quickly rushed past numerous students who were confused about the whole situation, one of them being Nora.

"Hey guys!" She greeted cheerfully, no one bothered to answer back and just kept their focus on Walker. Nora's smile turned to a worried expression when she gazed over the shoulders of one of the party members and saw Walker's injured form.

"Oh my Oum! What happened?!" She asked. No one answered her and continued their way towards the infirmary, but instead of taking a right they took a left. One of the medical assistants stopped and addressed the eight behind them.

"You all need to stay here." He said and pushed the gurney into a set of double doors that later read 'extensive care', leaving them all to stand there. Tai breathed through his nose heavily and turned to Summer and Glynda, he sighed before taking Summer's hand and putting it in his.

"He'll make it through..." He whispered.

"I hope..." She said quietly, the two stood there for a minute before Glynda cleared her throat.

"While I would love to stay and see the end of Walker's procedure I must inform the Headmaster about your investigation." She said professionally, but closer inspection and you could make out the crack in her voice. Tai and Summer nodded before following Goodwitch towards Ozpin's office, leaving all the students to stand at the double doors.

* * *

They had been waiting in the waiting room for a few hours, doing different things to keep themselves occupied. Ruby slept on Yang with a crestfallen expression, Weiss filed her nails slowly while staring blankly ahead, Blake bounced her leg quickly and looked around every so often, and Yang stroked Ruby's hair to calm her down. Nora had left them shortly after Walker had entered the ER which left the four girls to sit there and wait.

"You four may come see him, though make it quick. He still needs to rest." A doctor called out to them. All four followed the doctor through a series of corridors for a minute before finally getting to a room. The lights were off and the windows were open to reveal the dark stormy sky while rain splashed against the windows, making a light tapping noise when it connected. The four quietly walked in the dark room to hear a light steady beeping noise and looked to see an IV connected to Walker's arm. The darkness of the room made the scene depressing and it didn't help that Walker's breathing was shallow, he groaned and turned his head to the left and right before it stopped on them. His vision was a bit blurry at first but soon adjusted when he caught all four of them standing in the dark room with the door as the only source of light.

"Hey girls." He slurred tiredly.

"H-hey Walker..." Ruby said quietly. It went quiet for a minute before Yang spoke up.

"How're you feeling?" She asked.

"Tired... hurt." He said slightly shifting to a more comfortable position. Ruby quickly walked up to the bed and set her head on it.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She repeated over and over again, she kept doing so until she felt Walker's hand on her head.

"It ain't your fault Ruby, you had no idea what was going on." He reassured.

"But that doesn't make it right though! I was being nosy and you got hurt as a result." She sniffled.

"We all get nosy sometimes, its what makes us people us... without a little curiosity who would we be?" He asked, smiling underneath his helmet.

"No one I guess?" She said.

"Atta girl, but next time just wait until I call you alright?" He asked.

"Mhmm." She hummed, perking up again. Blake, Weiss, and Yang smiled at Ruby's attitude returning to normal and sat on the edge of the bed.

"I should be good in about a week." Walker lied.

"Uh uh, you're not going anywhere until your wounds heal." Weiss informed.

"I can and I will." He huffed.

"Walker, I will freeze you to this bed." She threatened.

"Wow, harsh much?" He asked nudging Blake's arm.

"No, it's not." Blake said.

"Wha? Oh come on, you're supposed to be on my side." Walker cried.

"Not this time Walker, you need to rest." She said lightly pushing him down.

"Fine... can I at least get a book then?" He asked.

"Fine, what book?" She asked. Walker gave a mischievous smirk and looked at her for a minute; her eyes widened when she knew that stare and had a feeling of what his face was like.

"Walker, no." Blake said.

"Walker, yes. Blake I want that book." He said.

"Why can't you read your books?" She asked.

"I'm tired of the dark and gritty ones, plus I've never read a-" He was interrupted when Blake stood up and walked towards the door.

"Fine, alright. I'll get the book but you owe me." She pointed.

"Alright, name it kitty-cat." He laughed but later winced when his chest burned.

"I want-" She started.

"I'm sorry Ms. Belladonna but you and your team must leave for the night." A doctor said and left the room. The girls sighed slowly and nodded before getting up, saying their goodbyes on the way out.

"Bye Walker, get better!" Ruby said cheerfully.

"Try not to strain yourself too much you brute." Weiss said then followed Ruby.

"Get better gear head." Yang pointed with both hands and walked out the door. Blake was the last one to leave and looked back at Walker.

"Get better soon." She smiled and began to walk out.

"Blake." Walker called out.

"Hmm?" She hummed. He didn't say anything but gestured above his head, her eyes widened before she saw him still looking at her. Tentatively reaching above her head and grabbing the bow she untied it and let her cat ears wiggle out, she looked at Walker sheepishly but later smiled at him when he gave a thumbs up.

"Don't bother hiding your true self anymore, you won't make a difference if you do." He said. Blake smiled at him and slowly closed the door with a soft click. Silence enveloped the room just as fast as the darkness again, leaving him alone again with no source of light but the very dim one from the outside but even then it was still dark as hell. He turned on his side and got in a comfortable position before sighing in relief and shortly falling asleep afterwards, stepping into the void once again.

* * *

 **Weeks later:**

Recovery was always a bitch to overcome, especially when it came to school. Apparently almost dying for an investigation didn't count as an excuse to slack off even if you were in pain. Though the teachers gave some slack about his assignments after they learned what he had gone through but it didn't help when there was so much of it in the span of a few weeks. Though none of it mattered since he just finished the last of before leaning back and sighing in relief at the monster called homework.

"And... done! Three weeks of missing assignments completed in five days." Walker breathed.

"Not going to lie, that takes commitment." Yang said playing a game on her scroll.

"Yeah, even I couldn't do that." Weiss said.

"Well it helps when you four major in all important topics." He said rubbing his helmet.

"True, did you guys hear about the new movie coming out?" Ruby asked, looking at a weapon magazine.

"Which one because there's like seven." Walker stated.

"Ummmm, the one about the Beowolf and the huntress." Ruby said.

"So basically you in the middle of the forest?" Walker quipped.

"What? No, though that would be cool. Just imagine it; me using Crescent Rose and taking down numerous grimm with an awesome fashion." Ruby said while standing heroically on her bed.

"Hmm, nah I can't see it. Maybe you in the middle of a frozen forest yeah but a regular one? No." He said. Ruby puffed her cheeks and stuck her tongue out at him before jumping off the bunk and going up to Weiss.

"Weiss." Ruby said.

"Yes Ruby?" She asked.

"I'm bored." Ruby said. Weiss looked at her impassively before filing her nails.

"What do you want me to do about it?" She asked.

"Play with meeeeeeeeee." Ruby whined while tapping her teammate's lap.

"Ruby, no. I'm trying to study." Weiss said opening a book.

"B-but... but... please?" Ruby said giving the puppy dog eyes. Weiss looked ready to crack before she shakily put the book in front of Ruby's face, blocking the look. Ruby looked at the rest of her teammates who turned from her gaze before she saw Walker look at her with an impassive look, she noticed that he didn't even flinch and tried harder.

"Ruby, I spent five years with a little brother who pulled that shit everyday. You're not even in the leagues with him." Walker said. Ruby's puppy eyes immediately disappeared before she puffed her cheeks and used her semblance to speed up to Walker and climb up on his shoulders. He spun around widely trying to get her off.

"Ruby! Get off!" He yelled.

"No! Not until one of you plays with me!" She shouted childishly.

"You're 15, not five!" He yelled.

"That's ten years of playful experience underneath my belt!" She shouted. Eventually she got dizzy from all the spinning and fell forward but was caught by Walker and held in a bridal style.

"Make way for the newly weds." Walker joked. Everybody laughed while Ruby's cheeks tinted pink before she was let down when Walker gently lowered her.

"Alright, since you want to do something. We're heading to the shooting range." Walker clapped making Ruby gasp.

"Really?! Can I use your sniper this time?!" She asked excitedly.

"The One-Shot?" He asked.

"Yeah!" She shouted.

"...No." He said making her deflate.

"But whyyyy?" She whined while pounding his chest.

"Ruby that weapon will rip your arm off plus I only have one shot in it." He explained.

"Okay... can I use your other one then?" She asked hopefully.

"That one I don't mind at all." He said ruffling her hair. She puffed her cheeks and followed him out the door, skipping happily. Once they left Weiss, Blake, and Yang stopped doing what they were doing and looked at each other.

"You guys feel like going with them?" Yang asked.

"Yeah, there's nothing left to study." Weiss said and closed the book.

"I've got nothing better to do." Blake said closing her book also. They quickly caught up to the duo and walked next to them in silence. On the way the five encountered Team JNPR who looked bored out of their minds.

"Hey guys." Ruby greeted.

"Hey." Jaune said with boredom clearly in his voice.

"Judging by my analysis, you four are bored." Walker said in his detective voice, lightening the mood.

"Yeah... what are you guys doing?" Jaune asked.

"Just heading to the shooting range, you wanna come?" Walker asked. Jaune looked at his team and they nodded back at him with somewhat desperate expression, especially Nora, before turning back.

"Sure... can't hurt." He shrugged.

"Well come on, ladies man. We got some guns to shoot." Walker said throwing a arm around Jaune, who buckled a bit at the larger man's weight.

"I've uh... never really shot a gun before." Jaune said sheepishly.

"You shitting me?" Walker asked.

"No..." Jaune said dejectedly. Walker crossed his arms before looking at Jaune and smacking him in the back of the head, much to the irritation of Pyrrha, and scowled at him.

"Ow! Why?!" Jaune cried.

"What'd I tell you about that negative shit... it's what draws grimm. If you don't know how to do something, don't be embarrassed to say it. We all start somewhere" Walker said, leading them all to the armory. The hike to the armory took longer than needed since someone "Cough cough... Nora* decided to try and rush towards the cafeteria since there was pancakes being made, seriously who makes pancakes at two in the afternoon on a Saturday? After all of them had entered the armory, Walker made his way towards a more secluded section of the armory where some of the best students, and some staff store their weapons. Everybody looked at Walker incredulous looks as he went to a large locker and typed in his combination before opening it to reveal a large selection of weapons. Jaune gaped at the sight of all of them while wondering how it was possible to have this many, Pyrrha looked at them with great interest, Nora bounced on her feet when she saw the Boomshot and Torque bow, while Ren still had an impassive look but was thoroughly impressed.

"Each of you help me grab a weapon and take it to the shooting range." Walker said while picking up his Lancer, Gnasher, and Boltok before walking out armory. Each one of them picked up a weapon; Ruby with the Longshot, Yang with the sawed-off, Weiss with the Torque bow, Blake with the snub, Jaune with the retro, Pyrrha didn't have anything and just idly stood by, Nora with the Boomshot, and Ren picked up Walker's secondary combat knife **(The one from Gears 4)** Twirling it between his fingers, but couldn't help but notice how heavy it was. Ruby and Nora smiled wickedly as they inspected the weapons in their hands, with the latter tossing it and catching it.

"Nora if you drop that then you can forget about holding it again!" She heard Walker call from down the hall. Her eyes widened and she quickly held it in an iron grip while staring at the weapon intently, as if it would fall at any moment. Everyone looked at her surprised seeing as this is the first time she's ever listened to anyone other than Ren. Ren just sighed in relief and followed everybody else out the door, but accidentally dropped the knife, creating a loud clang throughout the room. As he was picking it up he noticed a name inscribed on the handle.

"Nash?" He asked, staring at the name intently.

"Ren? What are you doing? We haven't got all day silly." Nora giggled and skipped towards the range. Ren looked at the knife some more before shaking his head and walking out.

* * *

The eight had finally entered the shooting range to see Walker standing there and flipping the combat knife he owned.

"Alright you sumbitches, I'm here to learn you all a thing or two." Walker said in a country accent making everybody laugh.

"What are we learnin partner." Nora said in a country accent also.

"I'm here to teach Jaune how to use a gun while the rest of you shoot them guns." Walker said.

"Alrighty partner! Yeehaw!" Nora yelled and pulled out the Boomshot, firing one and making the dummy explode. Her eyes widened and she laughed maniacally before loading it again and firing another shot. Everyone else sweat dropped before firing their selective weapons with smiles on their faces. Walker smiled before turning to Jaune and sighed a bit when he saw him have a nervous expression while shifting slightly.

"Jaune, I'm going to be real with you. Shooting a gun is as easy as breathing." Walker said, dropping the accent.

"Really?" Jaune asked with a little bit of hope in his eyes.

"...No." Walker said. Jaune just deflated a bit before Walker continued.

"But it does get easier over time, like you learned how to walk, you'll learn how to shoot." He said.

"So let's start from the beginning. Get you weapon equipped" Jaune did that.

"Aim with your dominant eye" Jaune aimed but was shaking heavily.

"Hey." Walker said.

"Yeah?" Jaune asked.

"Keep calm, we aren't on the battlefield or in the middle of a grimm infested forest. We're in a shooting range... so take your time and relax." Walker said. Jaune nodded and took a few deep breaths to calm himself before lining up his dominant eye and aiming down the sights with steady hands.

"Spread your feet shoulder length apart." Walker said; Jaune followed his instructions.

"Now... fire." Walker said after a moments notice. Jaune took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger which sent a volley of rounds into the target and ripping it to shreds; his look of confusion turned to a look of joy when he realized that he had hit the target. Pyrrha smiled at Jaune when he hit all the targets and walked over to the two, having a smile on her face. Walker noticed this and turned back to Jaune before patting him on the back.

"Alright, remember what I said." He said before turning to Pyrrha.

"What can I do for you?" He asked.

"Oh, nothing I was just wondering what if I could talk to you?" She asked.

"Yeah sure." he said. Both of them walked out of the range before leaning against a wall, the wind blew slightly making Pyrrha's hair sway in it.

"Look I wanted to say... thank you." She said.

"For?" He asked.

"Knocking some sense into Jaune and getting his confidence up. He's been kind of..." She trailed off.

"Behind." He finished.

"Yeah... that. Lately he's been trying to cook more because he said he's been trying to impress someone but he never said who." She said.

"It's Weiss." He said. Pyrrha looked at him quickly before mumbling something underneath her breath.

"If you're wondering why it's because he's in puppy love." Walker said.

"P-puppy love?" She asked, looking at him. Walker just sighed and rubbed his helmet.

"You know puppy love? The kind that's intense but shallow? Doesn't ring any bells?" He asked. Pyrrha just looked at him confused to which he threw his arms up in the air.

"Jesus Christ Pyrrha! It's just a crush! He'll get over it!" He exclaimed.

"R-really?" She asked hopefully.

"Yes. And for the cooking it's because I said I'd give him lessons." He said.

"Oh... I guess that cake wasn't for Weiss then..." Pyrrha mumbled.

"...What ca-" Walker stopped when he realized what she was talking about. A few weeks before Nora had been complaining about someone ruining her cake.

"So you ruined Nora's cake because you thought it was for Weiss?" He asked. Pyrrha nodded slowly before recoiling back when Walker started laughing out loud, he later placed a hand on her shoulder for support before recollecting himself after a few minutes.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry, it's just that I never seen you as the jealous type." He laughed.

"What? Me, jealous? I think you have it all wrong." She denied while waving her arms in the air.

"Listen Pyrrha, I've been around long enough to experience jealousy at its finest. And you my friend are a prime example." He said lightheartedly.

"I am not, if I was then I'd show it more." She said, crossing her arms.

"Pyrrha, I'm joking. Not entirely anyways since you are jealous but I assure you that Jaune's still on the market. Just because he's into another woman now doesn't mean he won't snap out of his puppy love sooner or later." Walker said placing a hand on her shoulder. She looked at him before nodding and began to head back inside.

"By the way if you're going to ask him out then do it already, the worst he can say is no." Walker said.

"What am I going to do if he says no though?" She asked a bit fearfully.

"Then let it go after a while and then bounce right back. Someone'll eventually pick you up for who you are." He said while giving a thumbs up. She looked shocked for a minute before smiling and giving a light bow.

"Thanks." She smiled.

"Don't mention it, oh and tell Nora stop rubbing her face against my weapon." He said. Pyrrha looked confused for a second before looking inside and saw that Nora was indeed rubbing her face on his weapon, making her sweat drop.

"I'll uh... get right on that." She said.

"Appreciate it, and tell everyone once they're done put my weapons back." Walker said and turned towards Ozpin's tower.

"Where you going?" Pyrrha asked.

"Ozpin wants to talk to me about something." He said.

"Have fun." Pyrrha said.

"If you count talking for hours straight about something that doesn't even relate to me then yeah, thanks." He said making her laugh and walk back inside.

* * *

 **Ozpin's office:**

Ozpin was sitting at his desk as always and sipping his coffee as always but... he didn't have his lighthearted expression that so many people were used to. It was grim and serious as he scowled at the computer screen, while tapping his index finger on the mug. Glynda stood next to him with an equally serious expression but had a look of worry on it also, these past few weeks had been rough and unforgiving to where even she had to take coffee to stay awake.

"Sir, what are we going to tell him?" She asked.

"The only thing we can tell him Glynda." Ozpin sighed. They sat in silence for a few minutes before perking up when the elevator door opened to reveal Walker with his weapons on him.

"Mr. Walker, care to explain why you have your weapons on you?" Ozpin asked.

"I was at the shooting range with Ruby and them." Walker said. Ozpin just nodded and turned back to the computer before sighing and turning it off, Walker raised an eyebrow at his attitude then looked at Glynda to see her with the same one.

"Alright, I'll bite. What's going on?" He asked.

"They're here." Ozpin stated. Walker's mind went blank for a minute before he shook his head and looked at Ozpin.

"What?" He asked.

"I said, they're here." Ozpin said.

"How?" Walker seethed, clenching his fist so hard the knuckles started to pop.

"Tai and Summer found a body of one of them and sent me a picture." Ozpin said.

"Bullshit." He cursed, not believing what he had heard.

"Walker, language!" Glynda reprimanded.

"No! That's fucking impossible! How in God's name are they here?! They went extinct on Sera, I watched it happen with my own eyes!" He shouted while pacing around room quickly.

"Walker, if we keep this under wraps then we can mitigate the matter." Ozpin tried.

"Keep it under wraps? Keep it under wraps?! There is no keeping it under wraps, Professor! Once they come and they will come, it's going to be all hell broken loose! We are facing an extinction level threat that could tear this world apart!" Walker shouted. His anger got the better of him and he slammed a fist on Ozpin's desk, cracking it and making a dent.

"I understand that you're stressed." Ozpin said.

"Oh I'm beyond stressed at this point." Walker huffed.

"But if we tell everybody that there's a race of violent humanoids then we'll create a pandemonium." Ozpin explained.

"Professor listen to me, and listen good. When the locust come, they won't bother waiting for anyone to seek shelter because they won't care. And the moment they're up here they won't stop until every human, faunus, or Grimm are dead and gone." Walker explained seriously. Ozpin leaned forward and looked Walker dead in the eyes for a minute, the tension in the room grew thick and made Glynda cough a bit as the two stared at each other. Walker finally broke off from the stare down and looked at Ozpin.

"Fine, suppose we do it your way. How are we going to 'mitigate' this situation?" He asked.

"We send experienced huntsman out while the students continue to train for this threat instead of the Grimm and later ask for assistance from Atlas." Ozpin said.

"You mean the Grimm and Locust?" Walker asked.

"What do you mean?" Glynda asked.

"The Locust have creatures as you can tell from the video from the investigation, but they aren't theirs." He stated.

"Elaborate." Ozpin said.

"The Locust enslave multiple creatures from the hollow to fight for them in the war, who's to say they won't do that for the Grimm?" Walker asked.

"So if the Locust find out about the Grimm then they'll enslave them also?" Ozpin asked.

"Yes, and you know damn well from the battle data that they use the creatures they enslave to their full potential." Walker said.

"I am aware." Ozpin said.

"Then why wait until they have the Grimm on their side then attack?" Walker asked.

"To kill two birds with one stone." Ozpin said. Walker looked at him before chuckling slightly, then laughing lightly, eventually his light laugh turned into a full blown one that made the two adults back up a bit.

"To kill to birds with one stone, that's a funny fucking joke." Walker laughed lightly. He wiped away a tear from his eye and made his way towards the elevator.

"I'm telling everyone, whether you like it or not" He said.

"Walker?" Glynda called.

"Yes?" He seethed.

"I thought you encountered some down in that tunnel?" She asked.

"I wanted to believe I was hallucinating and it was just creeps but after seeing that parasite and you telling me that Tai and Summer found a body made me rethink." He said entering the elevator and closing the door. The office was quiet for a few minutes before Glynda spoke up.

"Sir... what are we going to do?" She asked.

"Only thing we can do now... prepare for war." He Ozpin said grimly and picked up his scroll to call Ironwood.

"Ozpin? What is it?" He heard Ironwood ask.

"James, we need to talk." He said.

* * *

The girls were back in the dorm room after putting Walker's weapons away, they were all huddled around his journal that he had left open. While it was nosy of them yes but they just couldn't help it, it wasn't their fault that his life was interesting... even though he had fought a war.

"Hey guys?" Ruby asked getting their attention. "Where do you think his parents are?" She asked. They just looked at her for a second before beginning to ponder that question; never once had he talked about his parents. When they did try to ask he would always change the subject and talk about something else that would capture their attention, the only person he really talked about fondly of was his younger brother and even then it was vague short answers. They were so caught up in their minds they didn't notice the door open and close before Walker sat next to them in silence.

"Hey Walker." Ruby greeted.

"Hey." He just said. All four of them noticed his lack of friendliness they were all used to. His voice sounded... tired, stressed even.

"You okay?" Yang asked.

"No, I'm not." He said and lied down on the floor. Ruby closed the book and everyone sat next to him.

"What's wrong?" Weiss asked.

"...Promise me one thing you four." He said.

"What?" Blake asked.

"Promise me that you four will never lose sight of yourselves in dark times. Keep going no matter what happens." He said.

"Walker, you're concerning us. What's wrong?" Yang asked concerned.

"We're going to war." He said, straight to the point. They were going to find out sooner or later and lying to them would end up getting them hurt.

"W-what? With who?" Ruby asked shakily.

"The Locust." He said. Each one of them didn't move a muscle, they were so frozen in shock at the possibility of them... the jovial team of Beacon going to fight a war with nightmarish monsters that made the Grimm look like house pets.

"No, no, no, no, no! You're lying!" Ruby denied while having a fearful expression.

"I wish I was... but we are going to war with them." He said.

"Walker... this isn't funny. Tell me you're joking?! Please!" Yang pleaded desperately. He sat up and looked at her before shaking his head making her hug her knees and rock back and forth.

"How do you know?" Weiss asked shakily.

"When I went investigating not to mention your parents found a body of one of them." Walker said pointing to the sisters.

"W-what? Mom and dad knew?" Ruby asked.

"Not until recently... but the moment they took a picture and sent it to me on the way here I didn't believe it." He said before pulling out his scroll and slowly showing them a picture of a dead grenadier with multiple holes in its chest. Tears began to fall from their eyes when it was confirmed the Locust were here.

"Walker, why did you say for us to keep being ourselves?" Blake asked.

"Because Blake, war is hell. War warps anyone no matter how strong, it changes you into something awful and scary; it makes you lose sight of who you are and everyone else." He explained.

"What happened to you?" She asked.

"...I was once as jovial as Ruby until I had my second battle with the Locust, after that I started to become more and more calloused when it came to killing and sometimes my teammates. There were times where I lost myself and became the monsters we fought... The reason I'm telling you all this is because when the killing is over and done you lose sight of yourself and sometimes others." He explained. Blake slowly nodded and hugged her knees, placing her head in them while whispering something incoherent. Silence enveloped them as they sat there with different expressions. The silence grew to hours as the sky started to darken as did the room, eventually all five just retreated to their beds while Walker went into the bathroom and locked the door before staring in the mirror. He gently took off his helmet and stared at the scarred face before sighing and turning on the tap, splashing his face multiple times.

"Please god... don't let the parasite and grubs be here." He begged before putting the helmet back on and walking into the room, all four of the girls lie awake while having blank expressions.

"Hey Walker?" Ruby asked from the top bunk.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"...What's it like to lose a friend?" She asked quietly, making the others look at him.

"It's awful, imagine you have a really big heart full of love and happiness... then imagine when you lose a friend a hole appears in that heart. Over time the hole gradually becomes bigger and bigger the more friends you lose until it's a giant abyss... in short terms it fucking sucks to lose someone you've grown close to." He explained, pulling out the COG tags and staring at them; the jingle of multiple ones made everyone's mood turn for the worse.

"But there are ways to overcome that." He said.

"How?" Yang asked.

"You ask yourself 'what did they die for?' and when you find the answer to that, you take it and turn it into goal, and when you find that goal you turn it into determination to complete it. But me? I just learn to push those feelings down and continue on because that's what the people who died for me would have wanted." He said.

"W-walker?" Ruby asked.

"Hmm?" He hummed.

"C-can we sleep with you tonight?" She asked nervously.

"Yeah... come on." He gestured. Ruby jumped off the bunk carrying her blanket and lied next to him, followed by Weiss who brought hers, then by Blake who brought her pillows, and finally Yang who brought her blanket also. They all lied down on the ground with somewhat crestfallen expressions as they thought about the war that would happen. Ruby's grip on his shirt tightened as did Blake's while Weiss and Yang's tightened on his arms, they all felt themselves brought closer until there was little to no space between. He squeezed tightly to reassure that he was still there but kept enough slack to keep them comfortable.

"Night girls." He said.

"Night Walker." They replied tiredly and fell asleep. His eyes slowly closed before he started to snore, all the while his helmet port lights started to flicker before shutting off and stare lifelessly at the ceiling with the girls in his arms.

* * *

 **In an undisclosed location:**

The area was murky and the air smelled musty, making the atmosphere uncomfortable. Heavy footsteps resonated throughout the area and came to a stop before resuming again and doing the same process but appeared to have more help this time. The individual gave a loud feral grunt as it hefted a box above its head and set it down on a stack before walking back and retrieving another one and doing the same process. It turned to see more individuals doing the same tasks while some simply carried weapons around and some had numerous beasts on chains and struggled against the creature. There was suddenly a loud shriek that made each individual stop what they were doing and look at the cliff's edge to see a tall figure in spiked armor holding a teenage boy by his throat. The boy gagged and wheezed as the figure tightened its grip immensely making the boy pry and kick to try and free himself, all of his actions suddenly ceased when the figure quickly cocked its hand to the side. Breaking the boys neck and twisting it to an unnatural angle, it then tossed the corpse to a pack of hungry smaller monkey-like creatures who began to feast on the corpse in a frenzy like state. Blood, organs, muscle, skin, and fat was rendered into strips of meat in seconds before it was torn from the bones of the body leaving nothing but a bloody necklace on the ground. The figure watched in sick satisfaction before shreiking loudly which made the other massive amount of figures cheer too.

 **"FOR THE HORDE!"** A chorus of shrieks and roars could be heard echo throughout the cave system before the tall figure hissed menacingly and turned towards its quarters to pick up a staffed weapon that took the lives of many.

* * *

 **AN: Well hot damn, that took a long time. Anyways, I never mentioned this above but thank you all for sticking with this story so far and I'm sorry this chapter isn't as long as the past few and it seems a bit rushed but I kind of want to get the juicy stuff going a bit faster but not to fast. So some of you may be asking why everyone likes Walker and I'll tell you; it's because he's not that bad of a guy in general, he just went through hell and never really had people his age to hang out with. He's mostly stuck around people who are years older than him and know some manners and how to treat people with respect, but that doesn't mean he isn't above violence. Another thing I wan't to talk about is how he recovered so fast after being wounded down in the tunnels. It's because his body had hardened over time and started to repair itself faster to get him back in the action as soon as possible (That's actually how my body is). If the story seems a bit rushed then... sorry, you just have to deal with it. Other than that I just have to say you all know the golden rule of gears and reviews and have a nice night. Take it easy everybody.**


	8. Chapter 8: Calm before the emergence

**AN: Welcome back everyone, how are you all today? Hope your Halloween will be fantastic and eventful, if you don't celebrate Halloween then... fuck you. Just kidding, it's all good though if you don't. All jokes aside I'm here to discuss some reviews, yeah?**

 **StelarToe6133: One of the most useful rules out there that must always be followed.**

 **jkdelta38: Thanks for the review man, I appreciate the feedback.**

 **pittsacee: Skorge bro, but it's all good.**

 **Digital: Yeah, I'm trying to do little references here and there but not too much but other than that thanks man.**

 **The Twin Wraiths: It may be or may not be, only time will tell. Anyways thanks for the review man, I appreciate the feedback. Damn dude, I'm actually honored that you've mentioned my story in yours. You keep doing what your doing and you'll be an amazing author and I'm not just saying that just to be nice, I feel that like that about all my reviewers. I feel that they could all be an amazing author if they tried and create something special, but aside from that keep doing good on that story of yours and thanks for reviewing.**

 **Eher: Got to read to find out, sorry. Thanks for reviewing though.**

 **Now that all the goddamn reviews are out of the way, without further adieu. Let's roll on with the fucking story.**

* * *

It was Sunday at Beacon, now some people would consider this a preparation day for students before beginning another week, this wasn't the case for Walker and the girls. All five of them just lied down on the ground covered head to toe in blankets and pillows, with Ruby and Blake on the inside, Yang and Weiss on the outside and Walker smack dead in the middle. His helmet lights flickered on and he groggily looked side to side to see the girls holding him tightly while sleeping with crestfallen expressions; it would be a lie to say that their expressions didn't hurt to see.

"Didn't expect them to react any less." He whispered and slowly shifted from underneath them to avoid waking them before going up to the window and seeing that it was early in the morning, around ten to be exact. His watch beeped a couple of times before being clicked and taken off, he set it on the bookshelf before walking into the bathroom, shutting the door and locking it. He stepped into the shower and turned the cold water on and let it splash against his body, he didn't even bother taking his helmet off. The water created a tapping noise as it connected to the helmet and ran down it onto his body and into the drain.

"I was just starting to get settled in too. Finally able to live a halfway decent life where I didn't need to worry about the next day." He chuckled mirthlessly while smacking his head against the wall lightly, creating a dull thumping noise. The cold shower lasted for ten more minutes before the faucet was turned off and he stepped out of the shower, throwing on a towel and stepping out of the bathroom to see the girls still asleep. First thought was to change right there and see if he could pull it off but then decided against it since it would be indecent and embarrassing just in case one of them woke up to see his frank and beans hanging out. Walking back into the bathroom and getting changed, he stepped out to have a pair of dark blue jeans on, white T-shirt, and a black hooded leather jacket that was unzipped.

"Better wake them up... got to enjoy the little things while they last." He said. Ruby was the first person to wake up when he knelt next to her and gently shook her shoulder.

"Hmm?" She moaned tiredly.

"Hey, you got to get up." He said.

"What time is it?" She asked, tiredly and flipped over on her stomach.

"Around ten. Come on kid, get up." He said lightheartedly.

"I'm not a kid, I'm sixteen." She pouted.

"Wrong, your fifteen." He said.

"Nu uh. I turned sixteen today." She said, waking up.

"Oh shit, really?" He asked.

"Yep, I'm finally an adult." She beamed.

"Not in my eyes birthday girl." He smiled when she stuck her tongue out at him. "Happy birthday Rubes." He said and offered her a hand, she gently took it and stood up before being pat on the back.

"Thanks Walker." She smiled. Blake was the next to wake up, then Weiss, and finally Yang, who gripped Walker's arm and pulled him into a hug. He struggled for a minute while tapping Yang's arm to get her to alleviate some of her grip but that didn't seem to be working since she was tightening it, she smashed his face against her chest making him sputter a bit. He's been in these type of situations before but never for this long, and frankly he wanted out since his oxygen was running low.

"Yang... can't... breath..." He wheezed. Ruby, Blake, and Weiss tried to pry Walker from Yang but didn't seem to be doing anything so Walker had one last resort when he wanted Yang to do something.

"Ruby... scissors... Now!" He gasped, making her nod quickly and grab a pair before handing them to Walker. He placed the scissors next to Yang's ear and made three snips and waited a few seconds before her eyes shot open and she looked to see scissors in her face before yelping and smacking them away.

"My hair!" She shouted and ran into the bathroom to check if there was any missing. Noticing there was none missing, she marched back into the room to see Walker take a few deep breaths and slowly stand up, patting himself down.

"Well damn, Yang. I knew you had a tight grip but that was ridiculous." He breathed.

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

"You were holding me like a bear and wouldn't let go. I actually couldn't breath." He coughed.

"Crap... well sorry about that." She laughed sheepishly. He shook his head and laughed before stepping out of the room but not before peeking his head inside.

"That's probably not the only thing that was tight." He flirted and closed the door. Yang's face turned deep red when she thought about that and sputtered an incoherent sentence as she thought about it more and more, eventually turning herself into a red sputtering mess when the realization finally hit her.

"Oh my Oum. Walker!" She shouted and covered her face, making the others look at her then at the door when they heard him snort in amusement before laughing loudly. Ruby looked at Yang confused at what he meant while Weiss and Blake's faces turned a deep red when they finally comprehended what he said before lightly laughing at Yang's embarrassed face. Blake shook her head and stepped into the shower before anyone else could try to enter and began to take her shower; when she got in she noticed how there was still hot water and wondered why. While she was taking her shower Weiss was trying to explain to Ruby what Walker meant by what he said.

"U-uh you see Ruby... Walker meant... umm..." She trailed off. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth before snapping it shut when she looked at Ruby's innocent face staring at her with silver eyes that resembled a five year old child.

"Weeeiiiiissssss, what is it?" She whined and stomped her foot, only making her look like a angered five year old child that didn't get their way.

"It's um... hey Yang, why don't you tell Ruby?" Weiss said pushing the blond brawler towards her sister and walking out of the room. Yang hesitantly looked at Ruby and buckled under her innocent look for a second before sniffling and wiping her nose, steeling herself for the conversation ahead.

"Ruby... since you're a young lady now. It's time you had the 'talk'" She said.

"The talk?" Ruby asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes the talk." Yang confirmed with a curt nod.

"You mean about the process of sexual reproduction." Ruby quipped.

"Yes, the process of sexual reproduction- Wait What?!" Yang shouted.

"Yeah, I already know about the whole process and what's supposed to happen." Ruby shrugged.

"What? Then how do you not know what Walker means then?" Yang asked.

"I know what the process is, but I don't know the terminology or what it looks like." Ruby said.

"Oh well then. I guess you won't find out until you're older." Yang said making Ruby go from the young adult she was a few seconds ago back to her old childish self.

"Yaaaang! You're supposed to tell me!" She pouted and pounded on her sister's chest while kicking her shins. Yang laughed and ruffled Ruby's hair before stepping in the shower when Blake walked out with a black towel on, her hair clung to her neck while the cat ears flicked every so often to rid themselves of water. She turned to see Ruby look at her for a second before nodding when she shot her a glance signaling for her to turn around for a second.

"Hey Blake, guess what day it is." Ruby smiled while looking at the calendar.

"I don't know. What day is it?" Blake asked, finishing putting some blue jeans on.

"It's my birthday!" Ruby shouted loudly, making Blake turn around.

"What?" She asked. Yang popped her head out of the bathroom and looked at the calendar before muttering a curse and sighing.

"Yyyep." She sighed and went back in.

"Do you know what this means?" Ruby asked excitedly.

"It means..." Blake trailed off.

"I get-" She was interrupted when Walker opened the door and walked in with a cake in his hands, while Weiss carried plates and forks.

"You get a cake." Walker interrupted and set the cake on the desk. He pulled out a lighter and set the number one candle then a number six candle next to it before lighting it and flicking the cover over the lighter, putting it in his pocket. He closed the blinds and pulled Ruby over to the desk, where a large red velvet cake with white frosting resided next to a little present wrapped up neatly. Ruby covered her mouth and gasped when she saw everyone's names on the present, she heard the bathroom door open and saw yang in some jeans with a orange shirt on that hugged her frame. She then looked back at Walker who just gestured towards the cake.

"When did you make this?" She asked.

"Made it two days ago. You really think I'd forget your birthday?" He asked.

"Nobody usually wants to remember it since I always pull the it's my birthday card." She said.

"Yeah, Yang already told me about it." He chuckled a bit. They all sung happy birthday to her while in a group hug before watching her blow out the candles and open the present, it was a box but upon opening it all that resided inside was five tickets. Ruby pulled the tickets out and stared at them before widening her eyes when it was an cultural weapons festival that housed some of the most famous huntsman weapons while also hosting a multi cultural event. She had always wanted to go to this but never had the time nor money to go and here she was, holding five tickets to the event she's been itching to go for the past years.

"H-how did you get this?!" She asked excitedly.

"Meh, used the money from my investigation and some of the money from winning the Vytal festival." He shrugged nonchalantly. WBY were equally amazed at the sight of the tickets, each one of them had been itching to go to the festival also. Yang wanted to go to look at some badass weapons, Weiss was interested in the variety of cultures and some of the dust crystals that were rare in some cases, and Blake wanted to go to indulge in the culture that included eating the different foods, engaging in some of the various activities and also talk with a variety of people. Walker just shrugged before cutting piece of the cake and handing it to each of them before lying down on the ground.

"You aren't going to get any?" Weiss asked.

"Nah, I'm saving my stomach for the weapons cultural festival." He patted his stomach and let the girls enjoy their cake while he pulled up some images from the investigation, frowning when he saw the dead Grenadier. He swiped to the right and saw a picture of the rock worm down in the cave, then swiped to the right again and saw a picture of a Theron guard with a Torque bow near a river; his mood quickly turned sour when he saw a picture of a dead Berserker that was burning. This was supposed to be a good day for them, not him, they had to prepare themselves for a war that nobody was prepared for... not even him.

"Walker?" He hear Blake call.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"When are we leaving?" She asked.

"Uh, in about ten minutes. Give or take." He shrugged and sat up. Blake nodded and fished in the closet to put on a black hoodie with her emblem on it, Weiss did the same except she just had on a white T-shirt (she had been trying to dress more casual lately), and yang just put on a orange jacket that stopped near her chest. Ruby quickly ate the rest of the cake and threw on some dark jeans, a white shirt with a rose on it and a black hoodie that had her emblem on it.

"Hey we're all matching... except you Weiss. The fuck are you doing?" He asked lightheartedly.

"Well excuse me." She huffed and turned.

"I'm joking... or am I?" He asked.

"Shut up you big brute." She huffed lightly and pushed past him.

"Damn, that was cold." He muttered.

"Cold as ice?" Yang grinned.

"Don't you mean..." He grinned back.

""Cold as Weiss?"" They both said at the same time. Ruby looked at Walker while dropping her jaw while Blake pinched the bridge of her nose before snorting in amusement.

"I made a mistake didn't I?" He sighed.

"Yep." Ruby nodded.

"Well shit... Yang-" He asked but was interrupted when she engulfed him in a bear hug and tried to spin around but only spun a 180 degrees due to his weight.

"I knew you were a pun master! Oh man, this is great! We're going to make loads of puns together!" She laughed.

"Nooooooo! Weiss help!" He shouted. She peeked her head back inside the room then looked at him up and down before shaking her head.

"No Walker, you made a mistake when you made that pun." She huffed.

"Come on! She's going to crush my spine." He begged.

"Too bad." Weiss said and walked out. Blake and Ruby looked at Walker and shook their head before walking out of the room, leaving him with a grinning Yang.

"Yang no." He warned.

"Guess you could say you..." She bit her lip in anticipation.

"Don't you dare..." He warned again.

"Walk the walk, eh Walker." She grinned at him. He just stared at her with a deadpan expression for a minute before getting close to her face.

"I will fuck you sideways." He whispered next to her ear.

"W-what?!" She shrieked with a red face making him burst out in laughter and leave the room, leaving a confused Yang standing there before falling over.

* * *

 **In the bullhead:**

The ride to the festival was quiet, the kind that Walker usually enjoyed and took a nap in. The girls were currently discussing on what to do first, Ruby and Yang wanted to go see the weapons first while Blake and Weiss wanted to visit the different stands that probably had a variety of cultures different from their own; Walker didn't give a shit as to what they all did first. He was currently on his scroll looking at more of the investigation photos before he got a message from Tai, opening it and reading the text he later frowned when he saw the picture that was attached to it. It was a picture of a bloody necklace that was in the shape of a clock but had four hands instead of two, the necklace was painted in blood and a few pieces of flesh could be seen on it while multiple claw prints could be seen near it.

 _"How did you get this?"_ He sent.

 _"One of our sources sent a miniature drone and scouted the layout, he found this."_ Tai sent back.

 _"Tai... you know who's necklace that is?"_ Walker sent.

 _"No. Who's is it?"_ Tai asked.

 _"That's Rachel's brother's necklace."_ Walker typed.

 _"_ _Oh shit! Are you serious?! Please tell me you're joking kid."_ Tai begged.

 _"No, I'm not Tai. If all your source could find is a bloody necklace then the worst has happened."_ Walker typed grimly.

 _"He was killed... wasn't he?"_ Tai asked.

 _"Most likely, but there is a small possibility that he is alive. Though I have my doubts."_ Walker typed.

 _"Can't something go our way for once? Anyways, how're you holding up kid? Summer and I want to know."_ Tai said.

 _"Better than what I was doing right now. Taking the girls to the weapons cultural festival."_ Walker said.

 _"Oh shit! Are you serious?! How'd you get the tickets?!"_ Tai asked.

 _"Used the money from the investigation and the money I won from the tournament."_ Walker said.

 _"Hold on, Summer's going to call you."_ Tai typed before ending the conversation. His scroll buzzed and he picked up only to wince back when Summer's voice rang out from the other side of the line.

"You all are going to the weapons cultural festival with me!?" She shouted, making the girls look over.

"Mom?!" Ruby asked excitedly.

"Hi Ruby, but how'd you all get tickets? They're expensive as Dust!" Summer exclaimed.

"Walker bought us all tickets! He used the money from his investigation and the Vytal festival to pay for them." Ruby said, making Summer shudder at the thought of the investigation a few weeks ago.

"You didn't buy me tickets Walker? I'm a little hurt." Summer pouted on the other line.

"Sorry Mrs. Rose. Maybe next time." Walker said.

"Alright. Now, how is everyone?" She asked.

"Doing great mom. How're you and dad?" Yang asked.

"Well your father is trying to cook again after he had his little contest with Walker." Summer commented dryly. "But other than that we're good. A little tired from the flight back to patch but otherwise good." She said.

"Well I'm glad. Oh mom! Did you know that Walker made me a cake today?" Ruby asked excitedly.

"Really? what kind was it?" Summer asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Red velvet with white frosting. Oh man, I've never had any cake that good in my life." Ruby said.

"Humph, maybe I'd like some cake." Summer huffed.

"I'll cook one for you one day." Walker laughed a bit.

"You better, because if you don't then Tai will and he'll burn down my stove again." Summer deadpanned.

"Hey!" Everyone heard from Tai in the distance making them laugh.

"We're here! Sorry mom, got to go!" Ruby said quickly and bolted out of the bullhead, handing Walker back his scroll. The rest of the team followed close behind which left Walker there alone with the scroll in his hand, he raised it up to the side of his helmet.

"You still there?" He asked.

"Yeah, we both are." Summer said.

"What else have you found?" He asked seriously.

"A nest of some sort near here, there was this dead thing with six legs, about the size of a dog, and had a suction cup like mouth." Tai said making Walker's eyes widen.

"Okay listen to me and listen good you two. You've encountered a heart leech nest, so what you need to do is find the source of the nest and burn it down to the fucking ground. Those things multiply fast and grow even faster so you need to work quick, also don't let them touch you okay?" He asked seriously.

"What do we need to burn it with?" Summer asked.

"Fire dust, electric dust, hell even ice and fire dust combined will work at this point. What matters is that you two destroy that nest or else the people around you will be in danger." He said.

"Got it." They both said in unison.

"Alright, I have to go. Stay safe you two." He said.

"You too Walker, give Ruby one hell of a birthday." Tai said and left the scroll to Summer.

"Walker... make sure nothing happens to my girls okay?" She asked worried.

"Summer, I've kept myself as a shield for them before. You really think I'll let something happen to them?" He asked.

"I guess not. But... you and I both know what's coming so promise me you'll keep them safe." She said.

"Cross my heart, now get out of here and destroy that nest." He said.

"I'm older than you, you have no right to tell me what to do." She huffed lightheartedly.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, but go on and help Tai destroy that nest while I give Ruby a happy birthday." He said.

"Alright, bye." She said.

"Bye." He replied back and hung up before sighing and fixing the collar to his jacket and stepping off the bullhead. "Got to enjoy the little things." He sighed.

* * *

The five had entered the festival grounds and were amazed by the sight. It reminded them of the Vytal festival except to a greater degree; multiple booths could be seen with various cultural demonstrations and objects, each booth had a different religious demonstration and etc. There was cables connecting the various booths and Chinese lanterns hanging from them for later on in the day and into the night. They all walked for a few minutes before something caught the girls' eyes. One of the booths had a sort of Asian vibe to it and had numerous outfits, souvenirs, art, and even food. It seemed to stretch into another booth while that one seemed to stretch into yet another one. Blake walked up to one of the booth vendors and looked at her kimono with great interest, she saw that there were numerous ones for sale and smiled, as did Weiss when she saw a white one with blue highlights.

"Would you five like to try them on?" A booth vendor asked.

"Sure, come on Walker." Ruby said and tried to pull him but noticed she wasn't going anywhere and looked back to see him rooted to place.

"Not gonna happen Ruby. It's your birthday, so go enjoy it with the other three." He said, pulling her hand off.

"But you took us out here to spend time with us." Blake said.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I'm going to focus only on myself. So go on and try the outfits on." He gestured.

"You have to try one on too Walker. We all need to match." Yang said.

"Nah, I'll be the odd one out." He shrugged.

"If you say so... but you at least have to buy one." Weiss pointed.

"Fine..." He sighed and walked up to the smiling vendor.

"Hello sir, which one would you like to purchase?" She asked.

"Uh... let's see. Can I get the one behind you that is black and has gold highlights?" He asked.

"Certainly sir. Would you like to try it on with the other ladies?" She asked.

"No thank you. Just purchasing it for later." He said and pulled out a lien card, handing it to the booth vendor. She scanned the card and discarded it before reaching up and picking the outfit off the rack and folding it neatly before handing it to Walker in a bag.

"Thanks." He said and looked at the girls before tilting his head towards the vendor and watching as she led the team towards the changing rooms. As Yang closed the door behind them, he sighed and sat on a nearby bench before pulling up his scroll and played a game for a few minutes. Yang had gotten him hooked on a game called Grimm legends, it's basically a game where you have to grow Grimm to adulthood and battle other Grimm; while it was fun at first it became addicting and frustrating as time progressed. His desire to hatch a legendary Grimm was as close to his desire to smash a grub's skull in, and that was massive. As he was playing the game he didn't notice a small figure sit next to him until they said something.

"Mr. Walker!" The small person shouted making him toss the scroll up in the air before catching it at the last second. He was about to curse at the person but softened his look when he saw Rachel sitting there with a dark blue kimono on and was holding a sweet treat in her hand, smiling at him.

"Hey there kiddo. How are ya?" He asked smiling.

"I'm good. How are you?" She asked back and took a bite of her treat.

"I'm just fine. So what are you doing here?" He asked.

"Oh! Grandma and I were celebrating the festival with one of her friends. She's really nice." She said, kicking her feet and rocking back and forth.

"Huh, is that so? Well when did you two get here?" He asked.

"We've been here since the beginning. She wanted to get in before everybody came and filled it up. I hope we don't leave soon though, I still want to meet a group of girls." She said.

"And what group is that?" He asked. He's been asking a lot of questions lately, but it's the only way to keep her from asking about her brother.

"The group of girls that fought in the Vytal festival. Team R-Rwby I think they're called?" She questioned making Walker's eyes widen then crack a smile.

"What if I told you I know those four?" He smirked at her. She gasped and covered her mouth while looking at him with a shocked expression; he laughed at her face before closing her mouth.

"Do you really?" She asked with stars in her eyes.

"Yep, I'm the co-captain of their team." He confirmed making Rachel gasp.

"Where are they? Can I meet them? What's the one called Ruby like? Is her partner nice or mean? How strong is Yang? Is Blake always that cool and mysterious?" She asked.

"Why don't we wait and find out?" He smirked.

"Where are they?" She asked looking around. He didn't say anything and just pointed towards the kiosk that had changing rooms and waited for a few minutes; after waiting in silence the girls came out with their different kimonos on. Ruby had on a red kimono with pink rose highlights to it and her hair was tied in a small bun, Weiss had a white one on with light blue snowflake highlights and her hair tied into a bun also but to a larger degree, Blake was wearing a black and purple one on with numerous circles and flowers on her's as well and her hair tied into a bun like the other two but had her bow on, and finally Yang wore a yellow and orange one with her hair tied near the end. Walker whistled a bit as he looked at them up and down with interest, he raised an eyebrow when he saw Blake still had her bow on.

"Blake? Really?" He asked.

"What?" She asked. He gestured towards her bow making her sigh and hesitantly remove it, her ears wiggled a bit before she flattened them when she saw somebody looking at her. She heard a small gasp and saw a little girl sitting next to Walker cover her mouth and stare at her wide eyed, the other three raised an eyebrow at the little girl.

"You're a faunus?" Rachel asked.

"Y-yeah? Why?" Blake asked.

"Me too!" Rachel shouted and wiggled the small wolf ears on her head to show them. The girls looked at Walker with curious expressions and he shrugged in response.

"Met her on my investigation. I've been keeping in contact with her ever since." He said. Yang knelt down to Rachel's level and stared into her eyes with a light expression.

"What's your name cutie?" She asked.

"I'm Rachel! Are you one of the girls from RWBY?" Rachel asked hopefully.

"Yep, I'm the heavy hitter of the team." Yang boasted making Rachel have stars in her eyes. Ruby walked up and knelt down to shake Rachel's hand while smiling.

"Hi, I'm Ruby." She said. Rachel took her hand and shook it quickly and smiled at the rest of them, Weiss knelt down to her and smiled.

"So how do you know Walker?" She asked. At that question, Rachel's happy look dissipated and was replaced with a blank expression. All the color drained from her face and she dropped her treat before looking at Weiss with tears starting to well up, eventually she started to sob quietly making Weiss back up.

"D-did I do something wrong?" She asked worriedly. Walker quickly got up from the bench and looked at Weiss before turning his attention to Rachel and kneeling in front of her and gripping her shoulders.

"Kid... kid look at me." He said making Rachel look at him with puffy eyes, which made the girls turn away.

"I-I don't want to remember..." She cried. He pulled her into a hug and let her grip his jacket and sob into it, drenching it in tears.

"It's okay kid... I got ya... I got ya." He reassured while stroking the back of her head to calm her down. She continued to cry in his shoulder while the team just stood to the sidelines, with Weiss feeling guilty at making a child cry. They continued to watch Walker comfort her and calm her down from her breakdown; eventually after a few more minutes of crying she started to sniffle and after a few minutes of that she just rubbed her eyes. He slowly lead her to the bench to sit down while pulling something up on his scroll and handing it to her, he looked at her one last time before leaning and whispering.

"Hey, I'm going to talk to them for a quick second alright?" He whispered.

"Okay... why'd she ask that?" She asked quietly.

"She didn't know kid. I never told them the details of how I met you so she didn't mean any harm." He said and walked towards the girls, they all looked at him confused while Weiss avoided his gaze. They walked a ways away to avoid Rachel from hearing any of the conversation. Once they were out of earshot he turned towards them.

"Weiss, it isn't your fault in case you're wondering." He said.

"How Walker? She almost had a mental breakdown because of me." She huffed and turned away.

"You brought up some unpleasant memories from her past and it just resurfaced." He explained.

"What did she go through though?" Blake asked.

"Listen close because I'm not supposed to tell you four anything but since there's no point in hiding anything I'll tell you." He said while getting closer to them. "Look, back when I was investigating we came across a house that had a double homicide and she was in the house." He said making them cover their mouths before shooting Rachel a glance. She didn't notice them because she was busy looking at something on Walker's scroll.

"Who died?" Yang asked.

"Her parents... they died in that house and I had to be the one to tell her." He said. All four of them gasped and blinked a bit to get rid of the tears welling in their eyes. He sighed and rubbed the top part of his helmet and shook his head a bit to get rid of the depressing aura that was starting to accumulate and grabbed each of their shoulders and pulled them into a hug.

"Girls, I've had to do this numerous times in the past and each time is hard. But for this one time... please just don't say or do anything that'll provoke a reaction from her. I want her to move on from this." He whispered to them, making each of them nod slowly and hugging him back. He disbanded from the hug and walked over to Rachel, who was busy playing his Grimm legends game while occasionally sniffling and wiping her nose; she later whined when he took the scroll from her and sat down.

"Hey kid." He said.

"Hey." She said back, leaning while doing so.

"Where's your grandmother?" He asked looking around.

"I dunno now. She'll probably show up later near the exit." Rachel shrugged halfheartedly. Walker raised an eyebrow at her solemn mood then smirked when he looked at his team then back at Rachel and tapped her forehead lightly.

"How about we spend the rest of the festival with the girls?" He gestured towards the girls who gave a small wave to the two. Rachel looked at him for a second before cracking a small smile and hopping off the seat; she grabbed his hand and squeezed it like last time, igniting another tragic memory but pushed it down when she looked up and saw Walker look at her and lead her towards the team.

"C'mon kid. The festival isn't going to enjoy itself." He said. She looked shocked for a second before smiling and following him and the girls throughout the sea of people exploring the festival like themselves.

* * *

The sky eventually darkened as time passed on, making the festival shine in all its glory. Throughout that time numerous people had tried to stop and ask Walker and the girls some questions but were ushered off when he politely refused to answer them and said that there would be a next time they see him in public. That was the one thing he hated about crowds and being known... the fame. Every single fiber of him hated massive fame and the fucking paparazzi got on his nerves more than anything, because there was always that one person who took things too far and made him do something rash. None of that mattered right now because every single one of them sat on a nearby bench enjoying a treat and taking in all the sights in front of them. Blake leaned on his right shoulder and peered at the beauty of the starry night sky while Ruby did the same on his left shoulder and stared at the Chinese lanterns that hung up above and drifted into the sky. Weiss and Yang scooted towards a space so that they were leaning on him as well and stared at the sky with awe. The moon shined above in all its broken glory while stars seemed to litter the night sky and stretch for infinity.

The group was silent and just listened to the comforting silence with the exception of the crowd behind them, who seemed to always have a cheerful mood. Rachel had fallen asleep and sat on his knee snoring softly while waiting for her grandmother to come pick her up. The poor elderly woman nearly had a heart attack when she couldn't find her grandchild anywhere but later calmed down when she found out that she was with Walker this whole time, she reprimanded him for taking Rachel without her permission then later dismissed it because she had said the poor girl has been having nightmares and only he could help her out.

"Hey Walker?" Ruby asked, still looking at the night sky.

"Yep." He replied while rotating his neck.

"Thanks for celebrating my birthday with me." She smiled at him.

"Don't worry about it. This is the most fun I've had in a long time. I couldn't pass an opportunity like this up." He said then sat in silence for a few minutes. He heard shuffling behind him and saw turned to see Rachel's grandmother standing there.

"I see that she isn't shifting as much in her sleep now." The woman said.

"She's been shifting in her sleep?" He asked.

"Yeah, she's been doing it for the past couple of days." She sighed. Walker thought about it for a moment before an idea popped in his head.

"I got an idea, every time she has a nightmare and she doesn't tell you about it then have her write it down." He suggested.

"How will that work?" She asked.

"Sometimes people just need to write things down in order to cope." He said.

"You do it too?" She asked.

"Yep, I do it when I'm alone or don't feel like talking about it. It usually helps out." He said.

"Well I'm glad... but do you mind if I talk to you for a second?" She asked. He looked in her eyes and could immediately tell what she was talking about before sighing and nodding slowly. He put Rachel in his spot and walked with the woman a few yards away while the girls watched Rachel and enjoyed their treats.

"Did you find anything?" She asked.

"Yeah, but you're not going to like it." He sighed and pulled out his scroll, flipping through the images before showing the photo of a bloody necklace. Her mood immediately hit rock bottom and she rubbed her eyes to rid them of tears.

"But is there anything else? A body? Anything else?" She asked desperately.

"Look I don't know because I was injured during part of the investigation and sent back to Beacon. The other three went and continued to investigate but one of their sources found this when they sent a drone." He gestured towards the photo.

"How long ago did you get this?" She asked.

"Just a few hours ago." He sighed.

"So there's a small possibility that Ian is still alive." She tried to say.

"I wouldn't know until I see a body." He said. She went silent and began to pace around for a second before Walker stopped her. "I know it's hard to lose somebody because I've lost numerous people in the past and each one is hard to overcome but that doesn't stop me from continuing and trying my damnedest to keep a closer eye on the ones I have left." He said.

"What are you saying?" She asked.

"I'm saying that you need to move on from Ian if he's gone but not forget about him. Now this may sound harsh but if you keep dreading on the fact that some part of him is still alive and might return one day, then you'll forget about Rachel. She's what matters most right now and she needs her grandmother to look after her until she can do it herself, if anything she's the one who's suffering the most out of us." He explained.

"How are you suffering?" She asked.

"Part of me feels responsible for not finding her brother and not looking hard enough. I made her a promise that I'd find him and I couldn't keep it." He said. The woman just sighed and rubbed her eyes some more before nodding and turning around taking some deep breaths before turning back to Walker.

"Do you mind if she stays with you five a bit longer?" She asked.

"Nah, I can keep an eye on her until you come back." He said.

"Thank you. I... I just need some time." She said walking off.

"Where do you want me to drop her off at?" He asked.

"At the bullhead docks in an hour." She said and made her way there. Walker gave a curt nod and made his way back to the bench where he saw all the girls asleep making him sigh and sit down with them.

"You four fall asleep faster than anybody I know." He chuckled and pulled out his scroll to play some more Grimm legends. His eyes widened when he checked his inventory and saw that he had a legendary Beowolf sitting there and almost shouted in victory but kept it down to avoid waking everyone up. He played for a few minutes before his body told him to go use the bathroom and that he had twenty seconds to do so.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit." He cursed as he entered the bathroom and rushed up to a stall and closed the door, using the toilet before finishing after a minute. The bathroom was small but still had enough space to hold around eleven people and leave some room to move around. It was quiet for a second before the bathroom door opened and someone's voice rang out from the outside the stall.

"Are you sure he's supposed to be in here? I mean the guy is practically a ghost when he knows he's being followed." The voice said. He could hear murmuring on the other side and silently unsheathed his combat knife.

"Yeah, yeah. If he poses a problem kill him. I got the gist of it." The voice huffed. The said person began kicking stalls open and checking them before moving on to the next, repeating the process until they got to Walker's and kicked it in. As soon as they did that they found themselves shoulder charged and slammed into the wall, cracking the tile. Walker finally got a closer look at the assailant and took in his features. Orange hair, boiler hat, white coat, and a cane on the ground next to him.

"Who are you?" Walker interrogated while holding up his combat knife.

"Are you serious? I'm Roman Torchwick. The greatest thief in all of Vale." Roman greeted with confidence, but not the arrogant kind that Cardin displayed. He noticed how Walker didn't even give a reaction or back off at the revelation of the criminal that everybody seemed to know.

"Don't care what you are. I want to know why you want me." He said stoically.

"Well my boss wants you so I'm here to retrieve you my boy." Roman cracked a smile making Walker furrow his brows.

"Is that so?" Walker asked tilting his head making Roman slightly narrow his eyes at the kid. He would be lying if he said that the kid's unblinking gaze didn't unnerve him a bit.

"Yeah, so you can now let me go and we'll be on our merry way." Roman tried to move but found himself slammed again on the tiled wall, this time with more force.

"Not going to happen. Why does your boss want me?" Walker asked placing the knife close to Roman's neck.

"Uh uh, that would be telling." Roman wagged a finger in Walker's face.

"Wrong answer." Walker said and plunged the knife into Roman's shoulder. He began to scream but was silenced when Walker stuck a hand on his mouth and threw him to the ground. He walked towards the door and shut it quickly when somebody tried to open it.

"Sorry man, some drunk guy puked all over the ground. It'll be a while before I get this place cleaned up." He lied making the person on the other side of the door sigh and walk away. His attention was turned back to Roman who was busy trying to stop the bleeding in his shoulder while reaching for his cane; it was kicked into a bathroom stall and he was picked up by the throat and slammed against a wall.

"I'm not going to ask again... Who. is. your. boss?" Walker seethed.

"I'm... not allowed to say. She'll kill me." Roman said through gritted teeth to avoid sounding like he was in pain.

"So it's a she huh? Well _she_ will be the least of your worries if you don't tell me." Walker threatened. Roman smirked and threw a punch towards Walker's stomach and kicked him away, making him fly a few feet before hitting wall.

"Jeez kid. No wonder they told me to be careful. You hit like a train..." Roman winced, grabbing his shoulder. His aura had already begun to seal up the wound, it was slow, but it was sealing it up and gave him a new view on the younger person in front of him who got back up and was already charging. Walker immediately charged him and threw a left hook making Roman duck underneath it and deliver an uppercut towards him, he leaned back as the fist soared past his chin. Roman kicked at Walker but found his leg caught and an elbow heading towards his knee making him jump up and kick Walker in the chest with his other leg making him soar back and skid across the ground. Roman quickly ran into the stall where his cane was at and picked it up before ducking when a combat knife sailed across the back of his head and planted itself in the stall wall. He quickly thrust his cane back and hit Walker in the stomach and sent him back before turning around to see another combat knife fly through the air and make him deflect it with some difficulty.

 _'They weren't lying when they said he was viscous in a fight. Fuck my shoulder hurts."_ Roman thought and ducked underneath another a right hook but didn't see a knee fly up and hit him in the nose, making blood fly out. Walker took this small window to grab Roman's cane and rip it from his grasp before wrapping the hooked part of it around his neck and headbutting him. He then grabbed Roman and threw him towards the toilet making him smack his forehead against it before it was curb stomped back into it, breaking it in the process.

 _'He barely hit me and my aura is almost gone! What the hell is he made of!?'_ Roman asked himself as he shakily got up and leaned against toilet. He spit out blood into the toilet before he was grabbed by the back of the collar and thrown into the opposite wall, he later saw Walker kneel in front of him while having both knives in each hand.

"Now, I'm going to ask you one more time. Who's your boss?" He asked while taking a knife and placing it near Roman's eye. "Don't bother lying to me Roman because if you do then I'm going to take this here knife and make a really thin incision in your eye and collect it." He threatened. Roman had two choices right now, tell the viscous kid in front of him about Cinder as his boss or wait until his Neo came because right now he needed to choose since the knife was getting closer. His saving grace came in the sound of glass breaking and the sound of Walker being thrown into a wall. He looked up to see Neo standing over him with a small smile before looking at Walker and giving a bow while smiling.

"So you're the one who almost killed Yang a few months ago." Walker mused making Neo raise an eyebrow before smiling lightly and nodding.

"So you're part of red's team then?" Roman asked, picking himself up.

"Yep. And I guess you're the one who almost killed Ruby." Walker replied.

"Yep, the kid's got some fighting spirit in her." Roman laughed. Walker laughed too making Neo crack a smile and give a silent laugh also and put her umbrella away. All three of them laughed for a minute before Walker stopped laughing suddenly and crack his knuckles loudly, but it sounded like snapping of bone more than cracking.

"Your girlfriend has some pretty eyes." He said out of the blue making Roman raise an eyebrow and turn Neo's cheeks pink a bit.

"Okay one she's not my girlfriend and two... that's kind of weird." Roman said. Walker didn't say anything and walked up to them slowly, while creating loud thumps and make the two back up.

"Too bad because I can't tell which one to remove. The pink or the brown one. Tell me Roman, which one should I remove?" He asked while lightly sliding a finger across his knife.

"None of them because I'll kill you if you do." Roman threatened.

"That's funny because I was about to do the same to you." Walker said seriously and threw Nash's combat knife. Roman deflected it but skidded back when he forgot how heavy it was, making it fly back at Walker at a slower speed, to which he caught and charged the two. Neo charged at him and used her umbrella to bat away an overhead slash before back flipping when another one was directed at her. Roman charged at Walker and gave three quick swipes before jumping back when a straight kick was sent towards his stomach. Neo flipped over a swing and slashed at Walker's back, widening her eyes when she saw her umbrella create a small tear before smiling. She used her semblance to appear in front of Walker when he elbowed the replica and tried to deliver another slash but found it deflected by his serrated edge combat knife. She place both her hands on the handle to give her more strength but found herself losing when she realized that the person in front of her was stronger.

"Blake bought me this jacket you know. And you tearing it symbolizes how much you fucked up." He growled. Neo flashed another smile before widening her eyes in pain when Walker gave a heavy uppercut to her stomach and grabbed the umbrella from her hands. He kicked her in her stomach and sent her to Roman who charged at him and began to slash at him with anger in his eyes.

"You know something Roman." Walker said ducking underneath a kick. "I like you. I really do." He complemented ducking sidestepping a swipe from the cane. He heard glass breaking and thrust the combat knife behind him, a sadistic smile appeared on his face when he heard the sound of flesh being pierced and a small cry of pain. It was so small that if you weren't listening closely then you wouldn't hear it. Roman stopped immediately when he saw Walker holding a knife that was piercing Neo's stomach. Her entire focus was on the knife before she shakily looked at him with tears in her eyes, something he hadn't seen in years of working together. He barely registered a fist coming towards his face and cried in pain when it connected to his nose and sent him towards the ground, he shakily looked up to see Walker holding Neo by her forehead with the knife up to her throat while she held the stab wound.

"It seems this woman means something to you Roman. So I'm going to give you a choice here and you better not come up with some cheeky ass comment either, because I'm done playing games here and I won't hesitate to kill her. Now... who is your boss?" He asked coldly. Roman was actually in a serious situation here, he wasn't dealing with the red and her team but he was dealing with an actual dangerous person who seemed like a psycho. He looked and saw Neo shudder when the knife would slightly graze her skin and make a red mark on it, she gave a silent whimper when Walker's grip on her neck tightened and he tapped the side of her head with the knife.

"I'm waiting Roman." Walker chuckled darkly and held the knife up to Neo's throat.

"Fine! It's Cinder, Alright! It's Cinder! Now let her go!" He shouted. Walker looked at Roman's desperate face and then looked at Neo's before laughing slightly then eventually into a full blown laugh making her try to elbow him to loosen up his hold but only seemed to make it tighter.

"That whore actually thought she could get over on me?! Oh my god, even someone as stupid as a fucking Boomer could have outsmarted her! Ahahahahaha!" He laughed sadistically. He stopped laughing and threw Neo to Roman, who caught her and removed her hand to see the extent of the damage, it wasn't bad but it needed medical attention asap. He heard a click behind him and turned to see Walker pointing a Boltok pistol at his head while tilting his head, then eventually kneel in front of them and forcefully grab Neo's chin while keeping the pistol aimed at him.

"Before you try and be the defensive partner Roman think about the situation here. Your partner is bleeding from just a knife wound. What do you think a bullet will do?" He asked. Neo felt herself lifted and looked to see Walker close to her face, she was about to wretch herself from his grasp but he leaned next to her and whispered in her ear, so quietly only she could hear.

"I want you to think about this moment, love. The fact that I beat you and your partner without an aura. It's truly amazing as to what you can do with a hostage situation... so many things you can do with it. So much more I could have done with you." He whispered huskily in her ear. Her face reddened at the last part and her breathing hitched when she felt his breath against her skin, even through the helmet he was wearing. It was cold as an unflinching blizzard storm yet warm like a fire in a fireplace in a log cabin; it seemed to slice a part of her heart and gently stroke it before thrusting it back in her chest forcefully. He roughly dropped her and stood up before backing away and looking at them while still keeping the pistol pointed.

"You two have ten seconds to get out of here." He said.

"You're letting us go." Roman asked.

"Wouldn't be much use as a message to your boss if you were dead. Five seconds." Walker counted. Neo's eyes widened and she quickly grabbed onto Roman before using whatever strength she had to get them out of there. Walker stood there for a second before pulling the trigger at the spot they were at and shaking his head.

"Wasn't even loaded. And I didn't even bring any ammo either." He laughed and was about to walk out but noticed that there was blood on his hands. "Girls will probably worry even more about me if they realized I fought two criminals." He sighed and began to washing both hands to rid them of blood, after a few seconds of washing he exited the bathroom, ignoring the fact that there was a few drops of blood on the ground.

* * *

Ruby tiredly woke up and looked around the festival. It was still busy with activity even though it was still early in the morning. Checking her scroll to see the time her eyes widened when it was only 12:30 and the whole festival ended at two, so that meant the five had an hour and a half left to go see the weapons section of it before leaving. Everyone else seemed to be asleep with the exception of Walker, who was gone.

"Where is he?" She asked while looking around; tired groans resonated to the right and left. Weiss was the first to wake up, followed by Blake, and finally Yang who rubbed her eyes before looking around to see Walker missing.

"Where's Walker?" Yang asked tiredly.

"I don't know. How long have we been asleep?" Blake asked.

"Uhhhhh, about twenty minutes." Ruby answered while stretching and eventually standing up.

"Really? Well at least we still have time to observe the weapons section." Weiss said.

"Oh yeah!" Ruby cheered. They all turned to hear the bathroom door open and Walker step out with his sleeves rolled up to his forearms, while flicking both hands to rid them of residue water.

"About time you all woke up." He laughed.

"Hey, all those sweets got to us." Yang shrugged.

"Well, how about we go look at the weapons section now." He gestured making Ruby, Yang, and Rachel cheer before running off while Blake and Weiss nod. Weiss went ahead of the two but Blake just stayed behind and stood next to Walker.

"What's up?" He asked, throwing her a glance.

"Nothing... just enjoying the scenery." She said. Someone threw her a glare and made her flatten her ears before they backed up when Walker stepped up to them.

"Fucking piece of shit." He growled at their retreating figure. Blake placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down then breathed in relief when he eventually did. He wrapped an arm around hers and lead them throughout the crowd, to where they eventually caught up with Ruby and them, who were observing some weapons from some of the greatest huntsman.

"Holy crap! Look at this gun! It shoots a combination of fire, electricity, gravity, and ice dust in each round, not to mention a small trace of white dust!" Ruby gushed as she observed the weapon. Rachel was on par with Ruby as both of them went on to observe other weapons while giving facts about them just through a quick observation alone. Weiss and Yang laughed at their similarities then looked to see Walker and Blake look at a sword, but the former stared at it longer.

"Walker? You okay?" Yang asked. He didn't say anything and just unsheathed Nash's knife and held it up to the sword in front of the two, both had a lot of similarities. The only difference is that the sword was a chainsaw as well, it had a wolf's head inside of a cog design near the middle of the blade while the teeth only went to the underside of the sword and looked to be in pristine condition but upon closer inspection there was signs of usage on it.

"Yeah I'm fine... who's weapon is this?" He asked. Weiss looked closer at the card and noticed that it didn't say anything except have facts about the weapon and a signature that just read N on it.

"It doesn't say." She said.

"Huh, guess we'll never know. Let's go find Ruby before she blows something up." He said.

"Yeah. Let's not have a repeat of the start of the year." Weiss deadpanned making Yang and Blake laugh.

"What happened at the start of the year?" Walker asked.

"Basically Weiss was shaking a dust vile and it went into Ruby's nose causing her to sneeze and almost blow them off the side of the cliff." Yang laughed.

"We better hurry then." He joked. All three of them nodded and quickly made their way across the sea of people who were still observing the weapons. After a few minutes of searching they had found Ruby and Rachel staring at a familiar weapon the belonged to a dusty old crow. Yang's eyes immediately widened and she zoomed up to the weapon next to Ruby with a smile beaming on her face before turning when they heard a familiar voice.

"What are you two doing here?" Qrow asked while taking a sip.

"Uncle Qrow!" Both shouted as they lunged towards him. He grunted in slight pain when they collided and almost knocked him over, before laughing and engulfing the two in a hug.

"What are you two doing here?" He asked.

"Walker bought us tickets!" Ruby beamed. Qrow raised an eyebrow and turned to see Walker walk towards them with his arm wrapped around Blake's before giving him a two finger salute.

"Sup kid." Qrow nodded.

"Hey Qrow, the hell are you doing here?" Walker asked.

"Eh, I got invited to this thing. Beats teaching the brats at Signal." Qrow shrugged.

"It also beats staying at Beacon tonight." Walker said back making Qrow chuckle.

"So this is your weapon." Walker mused looking at Qrow's weapon.

"Yep, been with me since before I started at Beacon." Qrow nodded.

"Huh. It looks old... like it's user." Walker joked.

"You call this." Qrow said brushing his hand through his hair. "Old?" He looked at Walker with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh yeah." Walker quipped.

"Smartass." Qrow chuckled

"Better than being a dumbass." Walker joked making everybody laugh. Qrow took his weapon off the stand and put it on his back before taking another sip from his flask. They all began to walk together for a few minutes before a sense of dread washed over Walker... like he knew something was going to happen. He stopped suddenly and stared ahead blankly; Blake was the first one to notice him and slowly walked up to his stock still figure.

"Walker... Walker, what's wrong?" She asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. They all threw a worried glance at each other when he suddenly whipped around and looked behind him and at the entrance of the festival.

"You're worrying us kid. Tell us what's wrong-" Qrow said.

"Shut up... you hear that?" Walker interrupted.

"I don't hear anything." Weiss said as she strained to hear something.

"I think those sweets are getting to you Walker, maybe you should lie down-" Yang started but was interrupted when the ground felt like it was rumbling.

"Move." He said.

"W-what?" Rachel asked.

"Move!" He ordered and ushered everyone to the side. The ground began to crack and shift before a large spider like creature burst from the ground and screeched loudly, making everyone in the festival scream in terror. It suddenly went back into the ground just as more humanoid figures shot up from the ground and began to fire into the crowd, killing multiple people in the process. More holes in the ground began to appear as did more humanoid figures when they did, repeating the same process of firing into the crowd and killing anyone in the way; it was a massacre for all eyes. Walker lead everyone to a nearby booth and shut the door before closing the metal sheet used as a window, shielding them from the gunfire. All their breathing was heavy and scared with the exception of Walker, who was controlled but angered.

"Fuck." He whispered quietly. "Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck!" He whispered loudly slamming a fist into the ground. Everyone jumped when he grabbed his helmet and took it off and threw it before putting his hood over his head. The helmet landed in front of Rachel and she hesitantly picked it up before slowly walking towards him and handing him the helmet; he gently took it from her and turned around and put it on.

"Thanks..." He whispered. Rachel gave a hesitate nod and went back to sit next to Blake. Qrow stood up and walked over to the door, opening it before Walker closed it quickly.

"Kid, people are dying out there." He said.

"You think I don't know that? If we go out there while they're still emerging we'll be dead before we can even save anyone." Walker said.

"So what are we supposed to do, huh? Just let those people die?" Qrow asked.

"No, we wait a minute before we know the fucking grubs stop then go out there." Walker said. Qrow was about to retaliate but stopped when he heard heavy guttural breathing outside the door; Walker gently pushed him away before breathing deeply and quickly opening the door.

 **"Ground Walk-"** The Drone was suddenly caught off guard when Walker pulled it into the room and threw it on the ground; he equipped his combat knife and began to stab it in the neck multiple times, spraying blood all over the ground. Once he knew it was dead, he grabbed the Hammerburst and inspected it before tossing it to Yang and looking at them.

"Stay here until we come back, don't bother trying to come out until we do or you'll end up dead. Do I make myself clear?" He asked; they didn't say anything and just nodded. He looked at Qrow and tilted his head towards the door and exited, followed by Qrow who shot the girls a glance before following Walker. Ruby hugged her knees and cried while Yang pulled her into a hug while staring at the dead locust, who was staring at them with a dead look. Blake and Weiss stared fearfully at the Drone while Rachel covered her eyes and gave small whimpers.

"Please Oum, just let this be a nightmare." Ruby begged and hugged Yang. All five of them sat silent in the booth while waiting for Walker and Qrow to come back as they fought the monsters worse than Grimm.

* * *

 **AN: Well holy shit, that escalated quickly. Anyways thanks for reading this chapter and sticking with this story so far. Sorry if I made Roman and Neo a bit weaker in this or not themselves in general, I'm not very good at writing fight scenes to be honest and I wanted to introduce them int he story. Anyways added Rachel as a character since she's probably the one who relates to Walker the most since they both lost their parents so he knows what she's going through. I didn't think I'd get this before Halloween but guess I'm wrong again, but anyways Happy Halloween everybody and heads up for next chapter. There will be blood and I mean lots of it. So you all know the golden rule of reviews and gears, have a good one everybody and take it easy. Have a good one.**


	9. Chapter 9: Emergence

**AN: Welcome back everyone, how are you all today? I've been trying to get these chapters out sooner but you all know how it is with story writing, you need to proof read everything and make sure its content is good for everyone plus I'm not on it everyday and writing takes a while. School has been keeping me busy with essays and assignments which severely limits my time when writing so thank you all for being patient and waiting for new content to come out. Anyways, it's review time so let's get into it.**

 **Guest: Fuck yeah the locust are here and they won't be pushovers either. Thanks for reviewing.**

 **Digital: Thanks man, I don't know if I'll do an alternate version of Walker and the rest of Dead Echo as just Remnant versions simply because I feel like that would be a lot more to write. Don't get me wrong, I love to write but it'll be hard to write 'Walker from Sera said that and Walker from Remnant said this' because I feel like it'll be confusing to other readers since they don't know which Walker is talking. So sorry if this isn't in the story, I'm not saying that it's a stupid idea, I just feel like it'll be too complicated to write.**

 **WarWithoutEnd: Fret no more dear reader, here's another one to read until my ass writes another one. Thanks for reviewing.**

 **Now that all of the reviews are done I want to thank all of you for sticking with me this long. Seriously, it truly means something special to me that I can capture the attention of all you this long, I started from being a simple reader to a halfway decent fanfiction author that captured the attention of a few people. Now without further adieu, let's roll on with the fucking story!**

* * *

The peaceful and fun festival turned to one full of horror and slaughter as humanoid creatures that came below suddenly decided to commit a massacre. The sky seemed to darken immensely as the gunfire continued to ring out through the night, making it seem like this whole situation was a horror movie. Walker paid no mind to the gunfire and continued to hide behind corners and booths with Qrow right behind, if they were going to make it out of here they needed to send a message to Beacon and get their weapons. Without those two things both of them and the girls were sitting ducks. He out from a corner and saw that there were still locust patrolling the area and shooting anything that resembled a human, not caring if they had extra appendages. Qrow's eyes narrowed as he looked behind and saw that there was no locust but still kept his guard up just in case, their top priority was getting to his weapon.

"Kid, you sure you don't need a weapon?" Qrow whispered as he kept an eye out.

"Yeah, I'll just pick one up from a dead grub when we kill them. Where's your weapon located?" Walker asked quietly, ducking down when a Boomer lumbered by while aiming its weapon around.

"About four booths down, but how are we going to get past them?" Qrow pointed towards the group of locust who kicked open a door to the booth and began to fire inside, killing everyone in there. He turned his head when he heard the screams of men, women and children before they fell silent while Walker glared at the group.

"Wait till they pass, I know it sucks but this is what they're like." Walker stated and crouched down before quietly rushing over to another booth with Qrow close behind, both keeping a close eye just in case another locust came out of nowhere.

"Yeah it does. What's the plan when we get our weapons?" Qrow asked.

"Get the girls, send a message to Beacon, fight our way out of here, and get the hell out of dodge." Walker listed quietly moving to another stall. Qrow nodded and began to follow Walker through the festival grounds, keeping silent. The group of locust moved further down and eventually away from the booth that Qrow's weapon was at after a few minutes except a lonely Drone that stood keeping an eye out. Walker made a shushing gesture and began to slowly creep towards the booth, staying in the shadows to stay out of its line of sight while equipping his combat knife and flipping it in a reverse hold. The Drone turned its back towards Walker and made its last mistake when he grabbed it in a choke hold and plunged the knife in the side of its neck, it began to flail around and try to call for help but was interrupted when Walker began to stab it in the windpipe multiple times until it slumped over. He began to drag the body over to Qrow, who slightly recoiled at the gruesome sight of the mutilated neck, and roughly dropped the body on the ground before searching it thoroughly. All that was on the body was a Hammerburst with iron sights, a few magazines, and a few boltok pistol rounds.

"Let's go." Walker said gruffly and aimed his weapon ahead, making Qrow give a curt nod and follow him. Once they reached the booth Qrow swiftly grabbed his weapon and twirled it a bit before holstering it behind him. "We need to send Beacon a message and-" Walker said and stopped.

"What?" Qrow asked, getting in a battle stance when he heard footsteps.

"Connection's fucked. They've got a seeder around here somewhere." Walker said looking around. Qrow looked at him quizzically making Walker sigh and explain while looking around. "Seeders are giant eight-legged creatures that spew ink out their ass and are used as anti-air weapons and artillery. Their mere presence is enough to jam radio transmissions. In other words, Beacon won't hear from us until we take it out and we need to do it quick." He said.

"Let's get to it then." Qrow said. Both hastily walked through the festival and tried to ignore the dead bodies of many civilians that littered the ground and stained the ground red with blood and viscera. Qrow recoiled when he stepped on a dead child's dismembered arm and saw their dead eyes that held fear before they were killed. Although Walker gave no outward reaction he still hated the sight of so many dead civilians that were taken from this world, it brought back unpleasant memories of one his less than fortunate missions with Dead Echo. They had to rescue a government official and his family along with a few dozen people... they never made it in time to save a single one of them since he made a stupid mistake. After that mission he started worrying about others more than himself to the point where he didn't even care if he died in the process; the only reason he started to give a shit about himself again was because Nash threatened to beat him senseless until he did. Those thoughts were pushed aside when both heard a rumbling sound and took cover behind a booth, ignoring the man that was missing most of his head and was leaning against the wall. There was a seeder in the ground and was firing Nemacysts into the air and making the mortar sail high in the air before landing in spot where more civilians tried to run. It turned its body and launched Nemacysts in the air where they honed in on a fleeing transport bullhead and crashing into it. The bullhead jerked to the side and began to spin out of control before plummeting towards the ground and crashing, igniting it in a fiery inferno.

"Fuck." Walker cursed and turned back towards the seeder, seeing that there were multiple Drones surrounding it with a few Grenadiers spread out. A battle plan formed in his mind in the span of a few seconds and he turned to Qrow, who in turn looked at him.

"I can tell you have a plan so what is it?" He asked while keeping narrowed eyes on the locust surrounding the seeder.

"I need you to take out those three Grenadiers and a few Drones while I focus on getting to the Seeder." Walker instructed and pointed towards the ledge.

"Got it kid. On your mark." Qrow said as he jumped up on a ledge and took cover behind a sign to avoid being seen. Walker began to roadie run towards different pieces of cover and get closer to the seeder. Once he was behind a piece of cover he took a few deep breaths before reaching over the piece of cover and taking a Grenadier hostage.

"Now!" He shouted and struggled to hold the Grenadier as it thrashed around and reached behind to grab him. All the locust turned towards the two and aimed their weapons while firing rapidly before turning when Qrow leaped off the side of the booth and spun forward to build up momentum and bisected the nearest Drone in half. He deflected the incoming bullets before realizing how difficult they were and rushed up to another and gave a quick stab at it and tried to pull it out but found his blade stuck in its torso making it grab his weapon and try to pull it from its body, giving the other locust the opportunity to start firing at him; he struggled to lift up the body in time but did as soon as bullets started to impact the body.

"Shit." He muttered and backed up as the locust drew closer while still firing. A bullet managed to strike him right in the bicep and pierce his arm, going in and nearly out but not quite while completely ignoring his aura. He yelled in pain and dropped the weapon before ducking underneath more gunfire and vaulting over a piece of cover, wincing as the bullet wound bled profusely.

"Bag and tag bitch!" He heard Walker yell before an explosion rang out and the sound of body parts splatter against the ground resonated. A Drone vaulted over cover and aimed its weapon at him before stumbling back when Walker vaulted over also and kicked the back of its knee making a loud crack be heard before he shoved his combat knife in the back of its head. He whipped the knife out and took cover next to Qrow while peeking over and ducking back down as bullets whizzed past, nearly striking his head, the bullets finally stopped and he took this opportunity to pop back up and fire into the rest of the locust, killing them. The shooting stopped and both were breathing heavy before Walker stood up while scanning the area then look at Qrow, who shakily got up and clutched his arm.

"Let me see it." Walker said while looking at the arm but shooting glances around. Qrow winced as he lifted his arm and showed the bullet wound then later yelled in pain when Walker gripped it and pulled the bullet out, making the wound bleed even more.

"What the hell kid?!" Qrow shouted.

"Quit whining. Bite this." Walker instructed and gave Qrow a stick, to which he cursed and grabbed before sticking it in his mouth and biting it. His bite on the stick tightened as Walker grabbed his lighter and knife while heating it up and placing it on Qrow's wound. The sizzling of flesh resonated in the air while the smell began to mask the vicinity before grabbing his flask and pouring whiskey on the wound. This was only a temporary fix since he still needed to disinfect the wound with proper first aid or the older man wouldn't be feeling so hot in the future. He wrapped the wound in some gauze that he keeps in his pocket before walking over to the downed weapon and wrenching it from the dead Drone's corpse with a disgusting splat. Qrow grabbed his weapon and nodded towards Walker before turning towards the Seeder and scowling.

"How the hell are we going to kill this thing?" Qrow asked looking at the Seeder who moved around every few seconds.

"We flush it out." Walker said and began to fire the Hammerburst at it, making it squeal in irritation before panicking when it felt an explosion next to it. It began to frantically move around and quickly crawl out of the hole it was in giving Walker the perfect opportunity to go to its head and throw a grenade in its mouth. A few seconds went by before a beeping noise could be heard and its head suddenly exploded, sending blood and gore all over Walker's clothes and the ground.

"Goddammit. I just got this too." Walker grumbled and wiped off some of the gore. He didn't have his chest armor so clamping the weapon on his back wasn't possible at the moment, which meant he would have to do things the old fashioned way. Scrounging up any ammo on the ground both of them quickly rushed back to the booth where the girls were at and found that there was a dead wretch near the door while there were claw marks on it. Qrow quickly knocked on the door but jumped back when Hammerburst rounds suddenly shot out making him stumble a bit and land on his injured arm.

"Fuck!" He shouted and got up with the help of Walker.

"Girls it's us." He said and slowly creeped towards the door. It suddenly opened and he saw Yang there with blood on her kimono with a few tears in her eyes, she had a scared look in her eyes as she looked and then recoiled when she saw his clothes covered in blood.

"Let us in. It's not safe out here." He said making her nod quickly and move out of the way. He saw Ruby still sitting there with her knees in her arms, Weiss' chest heaved up and down quickly as she stared at the dead locust, Blake was rubbing her eyes to get rid of any tears, and Rachel was crying quietly while having her eyes closed tightly to avoid any of the horror. These weren't the girls that could fight tooth and nail against a horde of Grimm with ease, these were four girls that were terrified out of their minds. Qrow quickly shut the door and winced before sitting next to Ruby and hugging her to calm her down but seemed to make her cry even more as she hugged him tightly. All of them sat in silence for a minute before Yang stood next to Walker and sat down, making him slide down next to her.

"Walker... what's happening?" She asked fearfully, looking at him.

"War." He simply said and stared ahead blankly.

"Kid, we need to tell Ozpin." Qrow winced while gripping his arm. Walker nodded and stood up before pulling out his scroll and typing in Ozpin's number, waiting a few seconds before he heard a warm welcome.

"Ah, Walker what can I do for you today?" Ozpin asked politely.

"We need reinforcements sir, they've emerged." Walker said seriously making Ozpin blank on the other side.

"You're sure?" Ozpin asked in a dead serious tone.

"Affirmative, we need experienced huntsman and huntresses with a transport bullhead prepped for pick up." Walker instructed in a professional tone.

"How many are dead?" Ozpin asked.

"...That's undetermined. I assume it's going in the hundreds by now and the amount of locust is uncertain." Walker said. It was quiet on the other line before Ozpin spoke again.

"I will send JNPR, CRDL, and CFVY. Those are the best we have right now I'm afraid." He said somberly; those three were the best he had.

"...Inform them that this is a serious mission and be careful." Walker advised.

"Why?" Ozpin asked.

"The locust have anti-air hollow creatures that jam transmissions. Qrow and I took out one but I'm not sure how many there are." Walker said.

"Understood, the teams will informed. Yours and RWBY's weapons and gear will be with them." Ozpin said.

"Got it." Walker said.

"Stay safe." Ozpin said and cut the feed. The girls and Qrow looked at him as he slid down and checked the Hammerburst, reaching in his jacket pocket and handing a few magazines to Yang.

"You're going to need this. Once the teams get here, we're fighting for our lives." He said making the girls gulp.

* * *

As soon as the call ended Ozpin turned to Glynda and looked at her seriously. She shuddered when she saw his once humble expression turn into a serious one that held a burning fire.

"Call the teams and tell them to get up here asap." He ordered, making her nod and quickly send a message to the three teams.

"It's done." She said towards him. He just nodded and clasped his hands together while staring ahead blankly, dark times had arrived and this time he wasn't sure they'd survive it. After a few minutes the elevator door opened and all the team members filed out after being squeezed in so tight. They all had their hunter gear on but had tired expressions also, they had yet to notice the unflinching cold aura Ozpin was resonating.

"Teams I have a mission for you." He said making Nora beam.

"Alright! Mission time!" She shouted cheerfully making Ozpin's brows furrow.

"This is a serious matter miss Valkyrie." He said seriously, making her shrink and gulp when she saw his expression. Everybody in the room immediately felt heavy with tension as they stared at their headmaster, never once had they seen him serious and personally it was a little unsettling. Coco stepped up and and addressed him.

"What's the mission sir?" She asked seriously.

"You all are to assist Walker and RWBY at the cultural weapon's festival as soon as you leave this room. Go to the armory and picked up their weapons before heading to the festival, once there I will send a transport bullhead to pick up any surviving civilians and you thirteen." He informed.

"S-surviving civilians?" Jaune asked fearfully.

"We face a threat greater than the Grimm themselves Mr. Arc. Now go." He ordered making them scramble towards the elevator. Once it closed Glynda marched up to Ozpin.

"Sir, I need to go with them." She said.

"Then go." He ordered making her blink in surprise. Usually he would object and tell her otherwise but if he's willing to tell her to go then it's serious. She nodded and quickly headed to the elevator with her riding crop gripped tightly in her hand, closing it and leaving Ozpin alone in the room.

* * *

The three teams entered the bullhead, a custom one at that, and were silent the whole ride. Glynda had been on the scroll with Walker and was informed that there could be some anti-air locust capable of tearing a bullhead apart within a few seconds making her expression darken a bit. The signal was patchy which made it hard to understand him most of the time but managed to catch the important details and then sigh a bit. The transmission cut off as soon as he said where they should meet up at before a loud shriek came from the other side and made her almost throw the scroll; this was the most serious they've been on a mission.

"Mrs. Goodwitch? What are we facing?" Pyrrha asked, sharpening her spear.

"A threat that makes the Grimm look like household pets Ms. Nikos. I don't know how to describe them, but I do know they're dangerous creatures that think tactically. So once we land I advise you all to stay together." Glynda warned making most of them shake. Even Cardin and his team realized the gravity of the situation, usually they would blow this off but if CVFY is coming along with the two freshmen teams then it's serious. Jaune was shaking in his boots a bit at the description of these dangerous creatures that Ms. Goodwitch described, as far as anyone knew the Grimm were the scariest creatures around; what made it worse was when she said they think tactically... what were they facing?

"We're here. Keep close and don't stray away from me." She ordered. It wasn't that she didn't want to tell them about the locust, it was the fact that she was scared to do so. Throughout all her years as a huntress she's faced many horrors that lurk in the dark and give grown men nightmares but these... things? They scared her stiff and made her want to say this is all a nightmare that she couldn't wake up from. The nine twelve students nodded and began to follow her throughout the bullhead docks, recoiling in fright when they saw a crashed bullhead on fire and a few dead bodies around. It began to get worse as the trek continued and they came across more dead bodies killed in gruesome ways. Some were either shot, burned, cut in half, crushed, or clawed to death in such a grotesque manner that it even made Yatsuhashi cough at the sight. Nora's jubilant personality hit rock bottom the moment she saw a family of four lying dead near a booth, with the father's head crushed into a bloody paste.

"O-oh my Oum." Velvet gasped as they all came to the center of the festival. The sight was not one for the faint of heart. In place of the once green grass and concrete was a pool of blood and gore, seeping into the earth in a viscous manner, it only got worse from there; there were so many bodies littering the ground it actually made a small mountain that was made out of men, women, and children. It looked like a horror movie that Coco used to watch as a kid.

"What in Oum's name did this?" Pyrrha asked, turning away from yet another body. Glynda was about to answer but stopped when she heard heavy footsteps and a hissing noise. The teams heard it too and shivered when they heard a voice that sounded like the wind echo from far but in reality it was close.

 **"Sapiens!"** The voice hissed menacingly making all of them shiver. Something moved from the side of them and they all turned their weapons towards it, shaking a bit. It didn't sound human but was capable of human speech, almost like it was a mockery. It didn't help that the sky was pretty much pitch black and was the moon was being covered by clouds; this night was going to give them nightmares now.

"G-guys?" Velvet stammered as she looked into the dark area and was paralyzed by fear. The figure she was staring at stood almost as tall as Yatsuhashi in height and wore heavy body armor and a leather strip on the back of its waist, giving it the look of a trench coat. Everyone else looked forward at the dark area before recoiling when it stepped out and stared at them, giving a low hiss as it glared at them. The skin was pale and scaly and it had yellow eyes that held no benevolence, the teeth were razor sharp and stained yellow also, it was built enough to bench press a Beowolf a couple of times. Glynda stepped in front of the students and used her semblance to catch an incoming Torque bow arrow and throw it away just as soon as it exploded. The Theron hissed menacingly before pulling out a Boltok pistol and aim it at the group before it jerked suddenly and went stiff, confusing the teams and Glynda for a second before it fell over dead. All of them looked up to see Walker step out of the shadows with his bloody combat knife in a reverse grip and an odd looking rifle in his other hand. He went over to the dead Theron and curb stomped its head for good measure and sent blood and gore all over the ground, caking his boots in red paste.

"Mr. Walker." Glynda said and internally flinched when he looked at her with a blood stained helmet gaze, it truly unsettled her to see a student covered in so much blood. She wasn't the only one who recoiled at him, the teams did too as they saw their fellow classmate look like a deranged killer. JNPR backed up when he looked in their direction, when they were with him they always saw him as a nice guy who wouldn't hurt anything other than a Grimm but now looked at him differently as they saw him as somebody who didn't even flinch at the sight of blood and would kill to be in it again. CRDL gulped when they looked at him, their past encounters with him weren't too pleasant and decided to stay away from him from now on but seeing him covered in that much blood made him look like a serial killer. CFVY recoiled when they saw the underclassman there with a bloody knife and a rifle in his hand. Coco's glasses slightly dropped and she flinched when he turned his gaze to her, Velvet visibly jumped when she heard his knuckles crack from holding the knife so tightly, Fox couldn't see but he could feel the killer aura that was being released, and Yatsuhashi's grip on his weapon tightened as he stared at the boy who never shown his face once, he didn't see a friendly student who helped Velvet... he saw a ruthless survivor that would do anything to live the next day.

"You got our things?" Walker asked in a deep scratchy voice making Velvet cover her ears at the sound. It sounded like a set of claws being dragged across a piece of carpet times a thousand, it held no warmth once so ever; it only held a cold calculating tone that made it seem like he was an experienced killer.

"Yes. Where are the girls?" Goodwitch asked.

"Follow and hurry up, those hunter elites don't like being led on the wrong trail and are quick to seek out the ones who fooled them." He said and began to lead them towards the booth the girls were at. The trip to the booth was quiet and tense but what made it worse was more locust bodies strewn about the place and give off a dusty rotting smell that made them all want to gag, Velvet couldn't handle it so she vomited on a nearby booth, staining the ground in a mixture of brown and orange mush.

"Uh... Walker? Did you do this?" Jaune asked nervously.

"Yeah." He didn't even hesitate to answer and just kept walking towards the booth. His voice was so unsettling by the way he spoke, like he had done it before and was used to it. They soon arrived at the booth and Walker ushered everyone inside, all ten of them weren't prepared by the sight of the sister team who looked like a nervous train wreck. Ruby was shaken and trembling, Weiss' attire was a mess and was covered in blood, Blake's cool composure was cracking as she shook every once in a while, and Yang wasn't her cheeky normal personality that rivaled Nora; it was the sight of a damaged girl who experienced something terrifying.

"Where's our gear?" Walker asked while rotating his shoulders. Yatsuhashi and Cardin stepped up to him and dropped two duffel bags in front making him kneel down and roughly unzip both to see his and the girls gear, carefully getting theirs out first and handing it to them before getting his own out. Jaune was about to lead everyone out but Walker quickly shut the door and locked it to prevent them from getting out.

"You really want to go out there while they're patrolling?" He asked.

"What are they?" Ren asked, looking at the dead Drone in the middle of the room with curiosity and a hint of fear.

"Locust." Walker said, taking off his shirt before changing the rest of his clothes and revealing the scars to everybody in the room. RWBY had already seen them but everyone else hadn't. Never once had they seen him show any type of skin except the one on his neck and even then there weren't that many but seeing all of them in their full glory was a bit disturbing. Coco's glasses almost dropped when she saw on on his lower back and near his spine while rubbing her eyes to make sure it was real, Velvet's face turned green at the sight of so many and then gasped when she saw one near his heart when he turned around to show his chest have even more. The rest of them gaped at a certain scar near his right armpit that looked like a locust symbol but was scratched out with what looked like a knife, indicating he had committed self-harm to get rid of it.

"Why are there so many?" Coco asked.

"Half are from these fuckers and the other half are from _him._ " Walker seethed at the thought of Skorge. At first he had feared him with all his life and had nightmares about him but then developed a massive hate towards the Kantus and eventually that hate turned to a murderous fixation on making him suffer like he did all those years ago. The girls were already ready and had their weapons in their hands but held them with less confidence than what they usually do, this seemed to be taking a toll on them immensely.

"So now we can go now right?" Nora asked hopefully then later deflated when Walker shook his head.

"No, we're can't." He said and clamped on his chest armor, the blue lights igniting with a dull hum and his vision in his helmet darkened, indicating the updated objective.

"What the hell? Why not?" Cardin asked, gripping his mace tightly. Not out of anger but of anxiety of seeing another locust; he signed up to kill Grimm not freakishly buff reptile people from the ground below.

"Tac-com says take out the seeders. Then find survivors." Walker informed and checked the magazine on his Lancer before putting it back in and testing the chainsaw. The loud horrible sound ripped through the air and made almost everyone jump in surprise with the exception of Glynda and Qrow.

"Tac-com?" Ruby asked while putting her Crescent Rose on her back.

"A radio transmitter that us Gears used to communicate with each other and see mission objectives." Walker explained, cocking his Gnasher and putting it on his back.

"So you'll always know what to do?" Nora scratched her head.

"Most of the time but there are times when it's out, not very useful then." He said making her nod.

"What's a Seeder?" Fox asked.

"Basically a giant eight-legged spider that spews ink out its ass and is used as anti-air weapons and artillery." Walker explained making Pyrrha blank at the word spider.

"Y-you're kidding right?" She asked.

"No, I'm not. Now come on we have some grubs to kill, people to save, and a war to fight." He said.

"Whoa wait. War?" Sky asked making Walker look at him.

"You honestly thought that this little skirmish is a one time deal? No, it's a sign saying 'we're here' from the locust." He said and opened the door but not before stopping and walking over to Rachel and kneeling in front of her, handing her his snub pistol.

"Mr. Walker, I-I don't know how to use this." She said looking at his pistol.

"It's easy kid, aim with your dominate eye, squeeze the trigger don't pull, and inhale as you fire. I'm going to be gone for a while okay?" He asked making her nod.

"Kid, you're leaving her alone? That's irresponsible." Qrow said, standing up with some pain.

"Alone? You're staying with her Qrow." Walker said.

"I don't have a problem with that but why?" He asked.

"Do you really think you'll get far with that injured arm, judging by the fact that there was a Theron out there I'm going to assume there's Boomer and Grinders out there too. Plus that little cauterization and alcohol method will only last a few hours before your wound gets infected so going out there injured isn't an option for you." Walker explained.

"You go out there with injuries too." Qrow shot.

"I didn't have a choice to run half the time and getting killed by locust isn't the most pleasant way to go, so suck it up and make sure Rachel is safe." He said, walking out the door and standing watch. Glynda turned to Qrow and knelt down to look at his arm then frowned when she saw a crudely wrapped bandage that stopped blood loss.

"How'd you get injured?" She asked.

"Damn things have weapons that ignore aura... making us completely vulnerable to their attacks." Qrow winced.

"Wait so if we get shot then we'll..." Ruby trailed off making Qrow nod his head.

"Look, the kid needs you all so get out there and help him. Be careful though... he didn't seem to stable when he killed those things back there." He said.

"What'd he do?" Blake asked.

"Mutilated half of them with his bare hands and beat the last one's head so bad it ruptured." He said making them blank and gulp. They all left the booth with haste, leaving Qrow and Rachel alone with the latter shaking a bit.

* * *

Blake was the first one to walk out and turned her head to see Walker standing in the middle of the festival staring ahead blankly. He had his Lancer in his hands but had it lowered and kept flicking on and off the safety in a slow manner, the flicking kept going on for a minute before he felt Blake's hand on his shoulder.

"Walker?" She asked.

"Hmm." He hummed but kept staring ahead blankly.

"Are you okay?" She asked concerned.

"No, I'm not Blake. The locust are here and I don't know how many people are dead." He replied stoically. She went quiet for a second before turning him towards her and looking him with a concerned expression.

"That's not the only thing and you know it. Qrow said what you did and he also said how unstable you seemed." She said.

"...Blake be real with me here... do you know what a psychotic break is?" He asked while still flicking the safety on and off.

"Yes." She nodded.

"Good because sometimes... sometimes I have them in the worst ways possible. They break me from reality and turn me into something that people fear instead of wish to see. I see _him_ Blake... I see that fucker _Skorge_ every time I have one and see every locust as him when I'm in my episode." He snarled making her recoil a bit at his sudden outburst. She didn't realize how bad the torture must have been if he still thinks of Skorge to this day, and to make matters worse when he's in the episodes he seems to be completely broken from reality.

"Walker, let us help you." She said.

"I-" He started.

"Shut it Walker. We're your teammates and friends, it's our job to help you overcome your problems as you did ours. Hell, you even put Cardin in his place since he's more tolerant towards faunus now." She explained making him raise his eyebrows at her language, this is the first time she's ever cursed.

"Only because I threatened to shove my knife up his ass." He shrugged.

"Doesn't matter, you've helped people Walker. Now it's our job to help you once we win this war." She said.

"You don't know that." He said.

"I do because we fight the war with the Grimm everyday." She said.

"That's different Blake, the locust are smarter, tougher, and more resilient than Grimm." He shot.

"Than we have to be smarter, tougher, and even more resilient against them." She countered making him pause for a second.

"Heh, you're too much like Ruby you know that?" He asked.

"I've been around her for little under a year, she's rubbing off on me." She shrugged. They stood there for a second before the others walked over and gathered around the two, looking at Walker mostly.

"Tac-Com says there are two remaining Seeders left so we're going to take them out together, clear out any remaining locust, send a message for a rescue transport bullhead to arrive and wait for civilians to board them and leave, then head home." Walker listed.

"Shouldn't we split up to take them out simultaneously?" Jaune asked.

"Negative, you all don't have enough experience dealing with the locust yet. So until then we do our ops together." Walker said.

"How much experience do you have with them?" Coco asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Enough to see humanity almost be wiped out on Sera." He muttered and began to walk towards where a siege beast fired a mortar. Coco looked around and saw that they were all looking at Walker confused except RWBY and Glynda.

"Guys? What's he talking about?" Jaune asked. The five shuffled a bit before Ruby spoke up while following Walker and recoiling when he snapped a downed Drone's neck.

"Walker's not from around here. He's from..." She trailed off, not sure how to explain he's from another planet.

"He's from a planet called Sera." Glynda finished.

"So that means he is an alien!" Nora shouted then later shrunk when Glynda scowled at her, today was not a good day to act childish.

"Yes, Ms. Valkyrie he is an alien." Glynda sighed.

"So what's his relation to these things?" Dove asked, poking a dead locust with his sword.

"On Sera, humanity had fought these locust for almost twenty years." She said making the other three teams raise their eyebrows.

"Did humanity win?" Pyrrha asked.

"Barely. Only maybe a hundred or so thousand remain." Glynda said, using her semblance to move a piece of rubble out of the way.

"How many were there to begin with?" Ren asked.

"7 billion." They all jumped when Walker was suddenly in front of them with a decapitated head in his hand, holy crap was he always this quiet and scary? He threw the head over his shoulder in a bored manner and pressed the side of his helmet to see a secondary objective pop up.

"Secondary objective popped up." He merely stated and continued to walk, not bothering to avoid the blood puddles in the ground.

"What is it?" Weiss asked.

"Teach the students about the golden rule of gears." He stated, pushing a body out of the way.

"Oh! Is it treat others as you would like to be treat-" Nora began.

"The golden rule of gears is take cover or die." Walker said darkly, making her hide behind Ren.

"That's not really a rule right?" Velvet asked nervously.

"Tell you what Velvet, don't follow this rule and see what happens." He said and took cover behind a booth, turning towards the rest and signalling for them to do the same. There were loud footsteps and lethargic breathing as they got closer to the source and took cover behind a fallen booth, that surprisingly gave a large amount. They all saw a Grinder, Boomers, two Therons, and multiple Drones and Grenadiers keeping watch while the siege beast launched mortars.

"What the hell are those things?" Coco asked as she ducked a bit when the Grinder turned in her direction.

"The one with the Mulcher, which is a minigun, is a Grinder. The one with the Boomshot is a Boomer. Both are complete dumbasses intelligence wise but given enough time and effort they began to think for themselves and start thinking like the Therons over there." Walker pointed to the armored individuals that the three teams faced earlier.

"How are we going to take them out?" Ruby asked, aiming her sniper.

"Simple. CFVY, you take the left path with cover towards the ground, JNPR remain here and give supporting fire, girls you and I are taking the right side with the cover towards the roof. That way Ruby can give sniper support and I can go behind to prevent any of them from escaping." Walker instructed.

"What about us?" Cardin gestured to his team and him. Normally Walker would come up with a smartass reply but now wasn't the time nor place to do so.

"You four remain behind JNPR and watch their six just in case more locust show up." He informed.

"Their six?" Russel scratched his head.

"Their back, you watch their back while they handle the front. That way no ambushes will catch them off guard." Walker sighed.

"Got it." Cardin nodded then caught a Hammerburst at the last second, he looked at Walker confused.

"The grubs won't care if you know how to swing a mace, because they'll put one in your skull before you can even hit them with it. So for now use this until you all learn how to shoot some guns." Walker said then looked at the girls and tilted his head towards the elevated booths. Ruby used her semblance to quickly climb up to the booth and twirl Crescent Rose around before slamming it down and aiming at the nearest Boomer's head shakily; this was going to be her first kill and she didn't know if she could pull it off. Weiss and Blake took took the right side on the ground and were far enough away to avoid being spotted while Walker and Yang took up the rear of the locust to avoid any from escaping. Once everyone was in position Yang looked at Walker and flashed a nervous smile making him throw a thumbs up in return before pulling out a frag and swing it quickly.

"On the roof!" He shouted and threw the frag next to a Theron and Grenadier.

 **"Frag!"** A Drone shouted and jumped out of the way as it exploded, killing the Grenadier and Theron. Ruby fired Crescent Rose and send a sniper round towards the Boomer's head and made it growl in pain. She blinked in surprise when it didn't go through its skull and just made it aim the Boomshot at her, firing at her position; yelping in fright she used her semblance to move to the right and land near Blake and Weiss as the cover she was using exploded. The locust all began to fire in the direction each team was at while taking cover as the students with the firearms fired at their positions. The Boomer began to advance towards the girls and fire before laughing lethargically and reloading, it later began to roar in pain as it was pelted with sniper and pistol rounds with the occasional glyphs before falling over dead with a loud thump. Coco brought out her minigun and began to shoot at the Grinder but the later ducked when it spun the crank on the side of the mulcher and fired a torrent of bullets at her while laughing. It stopped firing and continued to march at her while cranking up the mulcher again. She waited for it to stop shooting before standing up and firing her minigun at it, frowning when it was taking most of the shots and still marched at her. Eventually it fell dead and made her crack a small smile before frowning again when a Grenadier quickly rushed over and vaulted over their cover and began to fire at her, but was saved when Yatsuhashi pushed her out of the way and deflected the bullets with a bit of difficulty and slammed his sword on the Grenadier's shoulder. The weapon cleaved through the locust but found itself stuck in its hard body, making him use a bit of strength to pull it free.

Walker and Yang were holding their own fine, with the exception of Yang's heart pumping faster than when she fought those thugs in Junior's. Except she wasn't having fun fighting, she was scared out of her mind right now. The locust were beginning to thin in number and were getting desperate, in a last ditch effort to kill at least one human one of them avoided the bullets sent at them and vaulted over to Jaune's team. A Drone vaulted over and kicked Jaune onto the ground and shot at Pyrrha when she tried to intervene and raised its foot right above Jaune's head. He covered his face in a desperate attempt to shield himself and awaited his fate but then noticed nothing happened. He opened his eyes to see Cardin tackle the Drone to the ground and raise his mace high above his head then smash it down, dazing the Drone at the initial hit then stop moving when another one connected. Cardin didn't stop there and began to smash the Drone's skull in repeatedly until there was nothing left but a mushy pile of skull fragments and brain matter. He shakily got up and looked down at his hands and weapon before scrambling away from the body while breathing heavily.

"H-holy shit." He muttered as he looked at the twitching body then at his hands again. This isn't what he signed up for, this was too much to handle, how the hell was he supposed to deal with this if he couldn't handle a single Grimm? He turned to hear a grunt and blanked when he saw the last locust crawling away from Walker before he kicked it in its stomach, flipping it over and shoved his Lancer in it. Revving up the chainsaw and making the insides of the locust fly out and paint his figure red, slowly dripping off. Everyone breathed heavily as they looked at the carnage around them and suddenly crashed to their knees as the adrenaline began to wear off, except Walker who walked around and began to scrounge around for ammo.

"How... are... you not... tired?" Velvet breathed, wiping blood off her clothes and recoiling at the feeling.

"You get used to it after a while. Now get up because we aren't even close to being done." He ordered and walked over to the siege beast.

"What are you doing?!" Pyrrha exclaimed as she finally got a full view of the giant creature, as did everyone else. How the hell was he so calm about all of this? This thing looked like it was made out of a nightmare.

"Using this here siege beast to get rid of the rest of the seeders. Who wants to use it?" He asked making them all look at him incredulously. Nora and Ruby tentatively raised their hands and walked over to him, flinching when the beast made a noise. Ruby went first and Walker grabbed her hands and placed them on the handles, going behind her and helping her turn it towards the seeder that was far away.

"Now this is going to be loud so make sure not to scream or you'll upset the siege beast." He said making her nod and pull the crank, making the catapult spring up and send the mortar high into the air and soar through the air. It later crashed on a seeder and there was a loud dying squeal as it exploded and sent bloody bits all around. Nora was next and walked over to the siege beast and placed her hands on the handles and smiled nervously as she turned the beast to the right and fired another mortar through the air and killed the last seeder. Both stepped away from the beast and crashed on their butts as everyone was quick to rush next to them while Walker went in front of it and through a grenade in it's mouth, sending its head all over the place. There was suddenly a load of static on his radio and there were sirens in the distance making him scowl and mutter a curse.

"Figures they show up. Where the hell were they when this all started?" He muttered. Seriously, where the hell were the authorities when the grubs started showing up and massacring people?

"They couldn't have known." Glynda reasoned.

"Bullshit they hadn't known. Possibly thousands of people died here and they're no where to be seen. It took you all, what... thirty minutes to get here?" Walker fumed and paced around, slamming a boot on an already dead locust and making blood fly out.

"You said it yourself earlier, those things were blocking the connection." She said.

"They didn't hear the gunfire?! The screams of all those men, women, and children?! The fucking roars of the grubs as they bathed in this violence?! If this is what the law enforcement is made of then there's no point in them even trying to defend the people!" He shouted. Everybody shifted uncomfortably as he kept on fuming at the thought of the local authorities showing up late, later jumping when he threw his knife into something in the shadows and saw a sniper drop on the ground. It tried to crawl away but was dragged into the middle and roared in Walker's face, sending spit on his visor.

"Walker?" Blake asked, jumping in surprise when he brought out his shotgun and raised it high over his shoulder and swung it forward, smashing the sniper's head into a shower of blood and gore. He yanked his knife out and wiped the blood off before sheathing it and checking his scroll to see the time, it read four in the morning which meant the local authorities were over three and a half hours late. The spit on his visor was wiped away alongside the blood and he pressed the side of his helmet, switching it to a private channel.

"Headmaster Ozpin?" He asked.

"Yes?" He asked.

"The seeders are out of the picture which means you can send the transport bullheads." Walker said.

"Are they all gone?" Ozpin asked, finally able to check the cameras of the festival.

"Judging by the sound of silence and the lack of gunfire, I'd say yes." Walker answered. He heard Ozpin hum then go silent for a second before answering.

"I checked the cameras and it seems they have gone back underground. Look for survivors, the bullheads are on their way. And Walker?" Ozpin instructed.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"I might have found you a way home." Ozpin said making Walker go quiet for a minute.

"I'm not going anywhere until I see every last grub dead on this planet but thanks for telling me otherwise. Anything else?" Walker asked.

"No, that was it." Ozpin said.

"Got it, see you later." Walker said and turned off the channel.

"What was that about?" Weiss asked.

"Ozpin said we have to find survivors." He replied. Everybody nodded and began to spread out, looking for survivors throughout the carnage.

* * *

Over two hours passed as the survivors of the attack began to board the bullheads, almost all of them shaken from it. Many of them had completely broke down when the came across a friend or a loved one that lied deceased on the ground or had thrown up at the sheer carnage. The police had arrived and decided to assist help find the survivors, much to the annoyance to Walker who refused to even acknowledge one, and were doing a pretty good job at it. All the students of Beacon were standing in front of the last bullhead waiting to take off while Walker talked to Rachel and her grandmother, who had found shelter in one of the booths. She had nearly gave up her life if she found Rachel among one of the deceased then later thanked whatever being above when she saw her granddaughter on Walker's back, covering her eyes from the carnage.

"Are you two sure you'll be alright out there?" Walker asked.

"Yes, despite menagerie being hostile to some humans we've been there enough for our presence to be known to the community." The grandmother said, who's name later turned out to be Isabelle.

"Alright, I'll see you guys in the future. Remember if you have any questions call my scroll and I'll try to pick up." He said and handed Isabelle his scroll number.

"I will and thank you for keeping her safe." She thanked.

"Anytime. See you two later." He said.

"Bye Walker!" Rachel said and gave him a quick hug before loading the bullhead, waving at him as the doors closed while he did the same. Once the bullhead took off he turned to the rest of the students and Glynda who sat on the ground, each one of them shaken up about the whole situation. Nora's attitude even took a turn for the worse since she wasn't smiling and was actually closer to Ren than what she usually is. Glynda and Qrow walked up to him and stood next to him in silence, both their attires had blood on it and was torn in a few places.

"How're you holding up Qrow?" Walker asked, waiting for the bullhead to Beacon to arrive.

"I'm hurting but I'll manage. You know we have to tell Ozpin about this right?" He asked, wincing in pain.

"He already knows." Walker said.

"When?" Qrow asked.

"When Summer, Tai, and I went to investigate." Walker answered.

"Does Ironwood know, because I'm guessing if he finds out he'll send more bots and half his army." Qrow said.

"The general needs to worry about his own land since the grubs are probably there too." Walker said making Glynda and Qrow look at him.

"What do you mean they're probably there too?" She asked.

"You two really thought that the grubs would be just in Vale? No, they're everywhere." Walker laughed bitterly.

"There's no safe haven then..." Qrow muttered.

"Nope, if Remnant has over millions of people then double that for the locust." Walker said, crossing his arms.

"This really is an extinction level threat." Glynda said.

"Heh, yep. Not to mention the fact that the locust are going to find the Grimm and force them into their cause." Walker said.

"Bullshit, they won't do that." Qrow cursed.

"They did it with the hollow creatures, they'll do it to the Grimm." Walker confirmed. Both the adults blanked at the thought of a locust riding a Grimm or using it as a cannon fodder. If a single Drone was a threat alone then what would a whole army plus the Grimm be considered. They were brought out of their thoughts when the sound of a bullhead rang out and landed roughly on the pad.

"We'll discuss this later." Walker said and walked over to the girls, who were still shaken up about the whole event. Each team pretty much collapsed onto the bullhead and sat silent as it took off; there was so much death it burned a hole in their minds. The silence lasted for a few minutes before Jaune looked at Walker, who was staring at a few COG tags before placing them in his pockets, and spoke up after clearing his throat.

"Hey Walker?" Jaune asked.

"Yep." He replied, taking a seat next to Ruby as she leaned on his shoulder.

"We're going to war aren't we?" Jaune asked.

"Going to? We're already in it Jaune." Walker said making all of them look at him.

"So there's more?" Coco asked.

"You bet your ass there is. Those drones and Grenadiers aren't even the biggest threat out there, size wise and threat wise." He said making them gulp.

"W-what do you mean there are bigger threats?" Velvet asked.

"There isn't a rift worm... that I know of." He muttered.

"A rift worm?" Fox asked.

"A giant worm that's eight miles long and a mile wide, big enough to sink an entire city in one feeding." Walker informed.

"You're lying!" Nora denied loudly.

"Do I seriously sound like I'm lying Nora? I've been inside the damn thing and let me tell you all. It's damn insides are worse than the outside, because not only are there man eating white blood cells the size of dogs but there's also the stomach acid, buildings being digested, and the teeth able to crush a building in one bite." He said making them all blank, except RWBY who's hearts dropped at the thought of that thing. If the locust are here then there's a good chance that thing is here as well. The rest of the ride was silent after the description of the supposedly giant worm that could eat an entire city. As the bullhead drifted further away from the festival grounds Walker leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, thinking about the dark times ahead. Blake's ear flattened as she leaned against his other shoulder and fell asleep, not even caring if the others saw her ears.

* * *

"lker... Walker... Walker!" He jumped up and looked around quickly to see Blake in front of him, looking at him worriedly.

"Yeah?" He asked tiredly, lifting his helmet to rub his eyes.

"We're here." She said and offered a hand to him. He accepted the hand and stretched a bit before breathing out in relief when some bones popped. Looking to the left, he saw everyone else off the bullhead and waiting for him to get off, each one of them looking tired.

"Why's everyone looking at me like that?" He asked, seeing the numerous looks he was being given.

"Ozpin said that you were going to teach us how to combat the locust." She said.

"The hell? Why?" He asked.

"Said you know how to fight them the best." She replied.

"I'm only 17 Blake, I don't even have a teaching license. This fucking sucks, ughhhhhhh." He whined.

"Well suck it up Walker, because you're our mentor." He shrugged making him drop his shoulders then smirk when a funny thought popped up.

"Hey Blake it can be like a porno Fred watched with Kelly sometimes." He said making her widen her eyes and look at him. "Sexy kitty girl fucks handsome mentor while she screams his name throughout the night." He added while wrapping an arm around her and motioning all around. Her face flushed red and she covered it while muttering a few incoherent things, yelping when he tightened his grip.

"Dammit Walker." She muttered and shook him off while walking away quickly, all while having a red face.

"Blake, come on. I was joking... Blake?!" He yelled before dropping his hands and laughing. Ruby, Weiss, and Yang made their way up next to him, looking at him curiously.

"What'd you say?" Yang asked. Walker leaned in her ear and whispered, her eyes widened and she quickly reared back and sported a red face.

"Walker, you can't say those things to her." She said.

"Why not?" He asked.

"Because I'm the one who says those things to her." Yang huffed.

"Well move on over banging Yang, cause I'm the one who makes all the flirts now." He laughed.

"In your dreams." She laughed.

"The wet ones especially." He shrugged making her sputter then laugh loudly and hold her knees before coughing.

"O-oh my Oum Walker... that is the funniest thing I heard all day. Wooo that made my day." She laughed while wiping a tear away.

"Care to explain to us what this whole exchange is about?" Weiss asked gesturing towards her and Ruby. Walker leaned near them and said what he said to Blake, making Weiss recoil with a red face while Ruby thought about it for a second before going red also, muttering an incoherent sentence. Walker laughed a bit then sighed and gestured for the rest of them to come over. Once everyone was gathered around him he cleared his throat.

"Due to unforeseen... arrangements." He looked at Glynda, who looked away while fixing her glasses. "I've been bumped up to a mentor for you all." He sighed. All of them looked at him incredulously.

"Are you serious?" Coco asked.

"As serious as a dead grub underneath my goddamn boot." He answered and checked his scroll to see his schedule for teaching his class. Everyone groaned at the sound of another class they had to take.

"Stow that shit now." He said forcefully making them clamp their mouths shut. "I don't like it and neither do you but suck it up because it's happening." He added. Glynda looked at him surprised at his authority over them, not even she could get them to be this disciplined.

"Go get some rest, we start my class in two weeks." He ordered, making them nod and quickly go to their rooms. He was about to go too but stopped when Glynda placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Headmaster Ozpin wishes to talk to you." She said.

"Oh course he does." He sighed. They began to walk towards the tower in silence with the exception of Glynda's heels clicking against the ground; she looked at him and sighed as they entered the elevator.

"How are you holding up?" She asked casually, he shot her a surprised glance at her casual speaking.

"Grubs are here, I've been put in a teaching position even though I'm not even twenty, the girls are facing a horror they should never be part of, and I'm tired and Hungry. So not good at all." He answered.

"Well you can go eat and sleep after we talk to Ozpin." She said.

"Why do I get the feeling there's more than just talking?" He asked.

"There always is." She sighed making him snort.

"I can see why you hate working with him sometimes." He chuckled.

"Well, it's a good paying job and I teach students on how to combat the Grimm. So it's not all bad." She shrugged.

"I always thought you were the more uptight people when having conversations like these." He commented.

"There are moments when I'm more relaxed and act like a mother rather than a stern teacher." She said.

"At least you show some emotion unlike my elementary school teacher." He deadpanned.

"Really, do tell." She said intrigued about his early life.

"Gave no emotion once so ever, had a strict no swearing policy, hated a loud classroom, and last but not least. She had a long list of rules that were to be followed if you wanted to be successful in life." He shuddered.

"Did you follow any of these rules?" Glynda asked with a raised eyebrow making him crack a smile underneath his helmet.

"Not a single goddamn one." He laughed making her crack a smile. "Five times I was sent out for either pulling a prank on someone or badmouthing a bully. She actually cursed at me for whipping my shirt off and standing on a pile of chairs while shouting 'I'm king of the world!'" He laughed. Glynda looked at him and smiled a bit when she saw a happy teen that recalled the better years of his life and not a battle hardened soldier who faced more pain than he should have. Her thoughts drifted back to when her and Ozpin watched the video of his torture, there was one part when Skorge actually made a brand on his left armpit with a branding iron. Both of them almost lost it when they saw him almost sever the boy's spinal column with his own knife. But what really made them worry about Walker's mental health was when he started to inflict self-harm in hopes of 'undoing' the damage Skorge had done to him, almost committing suicide if Nash hadn't stopped him. Her respect for his team skyrocketed when they helped him get out of his depression and giving him a reason to live. Although she wasn't a mother herself she had maternal instincts, they really kicked in when she saw the footage of his parents dying in front of his eyes, each one at a different time and how he had to explain to his brother why they were gone. It was now or never.

"Walker... I know you don't want to but do you mind if we talk about your parents?" She asked, making him stop his reminiscing.

"...Yes." He muttered.

"I know it's hard and you don't want to but you need to talk about them." She said.

"No I don't, because it's none of your business." He said.

"Actually it is. It became mine and Ozpin's when you gave us the feed." She said.

"This is why I don't show people shit! Because of reason's like these! Every time I have something wrong with me people are always assume I need help, I don't need help! I need everyone to stop worrying about me! And what the hell do you know about loss anyways?! You've never lost anyone in your life!" He shouted in her face. She didn't say anything and just stared at his face with an impassive look.

"That's where you're wrong Walker. I do know loss because I lose a student almost every year whether to Grimm, White Fang, or themselves." She said making his breathing hitch. "I've been teaching for almost twenty years and I lose around ten students a year because I'm either too harsh on them or I didn't teach them something that could have saved their lives. I'm harsh on them because I care about them as does Ozpin, so we know what it's like to lose someone."

He didn't say anything and leaned against the wall before slumping down. She lost over two hundred students every year for the past twenty years of teaching while he lost around almost two hundred and fifty in the past ten. He shouldn't have given them that footage because he should have known his parents were on it, the deaths of the people he lost, the deeds he's done, locust _and_ people he's killed. It wasn't the fact that he didn't want to talk about it... it was because he _couldn't._ The pain was too great and overwhelming... but it was the only way to move on from the storm that rages inside his mind because despite his mask of happiness he drowns in dark despair that threatens to consume him.

"Walker... I won't talk about it now but we will talk." She said, kneeling in front of him.

"Can the girls, Summer, and Tai be there too?" He asked quietly.

"...Yes, although it'll be a while before they show up again. With the whole war thing coming." She said.

"That's fine. I need time to prepare anyways." He sighed and slowly stood up.

"You have people that care about you Walker. You just need to stop pushing them away." She said.

"I... I just don't want anyone close to die for me you know? I've had too many people do that for me." He laughed sadly. Glynda looked at him and saw him go from a happy teen, to a hardened soldier, and finally to a broken individual that is barely holding onto life itself because of his past. She wished he was born on Sera without the violent monsters that terrorized the planet.

"I know... I don't either." She said and walked into Ozpin's office with Walker close behind. Awaiting the conversation about the future of Remnant.

* * *

 **AN: Goddamn, that took an unnecessary turn for the dark side towards the end. I actually didn't mean for it to come to that and was about to end it two thousand words earlier but decided against it. Anyways, I've decided to make the locust stronger than the people of Remnant because in all seriousness I feel like the people of Remnant are sometimes too strong. Like the villains for example. I wanted to have the locust weapons punch through aura like a hot knife through butter because of plot wise and their weapons aren't made out of dust. As to why the blades get stuck in their bodies, is because their bodies come from a heavier atmosphere and have adapted to being underground so long. Plus plot armor. So an unknown benefactor that aura isn't adapted to and the weapons seem stronger due to their firepower and ammunition. I'll explain why the authorities were late to the party in the next chapter so hold your high horses and don't throw a fucking hissy fit, and sorry if I'm not good at fight scenes, I've been trying to get better I swear. Next chapter will have blood but not as much as this chapter and expect the next chapter to be out around maybe next week or the week after that. You remember the golden rule about reviews and take it easy. Have a good one guys.**


	10. Chapter 10: Last day as kids

**AN: Welcome back everyone and happy late thanksgiving. Hope you all had a good one because I sure as hell did. Don't have much to say other than thank you for sticking with this story and if you're new then welcome; now onto reviews.**

 **jkdelta38: Thanks for the review man, appreciate it. I wanted to made the locust strong as they were in the books and just not make them pushovers, now I'm not saying the blades won't pierce their skin given enough force but it would require a great amount of strength to do so. Like when you retro charge them, you have to build up that momentum in order to pierce it.**

 **Digital Ph33rFan: I honestly love the little sentence above. All will be revealed in later chapters though. Thanks for reviewing and I'm happy you're still here with me.**

 **ZmbMadragon: Thanks man, I'm happy I could capture your attention.**

 **so without further adieu... Let's roll on with the fucking story.**

* * *

Both of them had stepped out of the elevator as soon as it opened and were immediately feeling the tension in the room. They saw Ozpin sitting at his desk staring at his computer with a stern expression and his coffee beginning to turn cold due to being out so long. It was quiet for a minute before Walker stepped up and slid the coffee mug in front of Ozpin, making him blink for a few times before addressing him.

"Ah, Walker. I see you got my message." Ozpin said.

"Yeah, kind of hard not to since you sent a message to my scroll and had Ms. Goodwitch bring me here." Walker commented, taking a seat in a nearby chair. Ozpin gave a small chuckle before his expression turned grim and he looked Walker in the eyes.

"You're probably wondering about the police." He said.

"Wasn't really thinking about them at the moment but meh." Walker shrugged.

"They were combating the locust in the city but at a lesser degree." Ozpin stated making Walker's grip on the chair handles tighten.

"So they weren't just slacking off... how many died?" He asked.

"Over two hundred police officers and a hundred swat units but the number of civilians is going into the the thousands, possibly tens by the time the searching is done and over with." Ozpin informed making Walker sigh.

"More men and women that died just trying to defend people... fucking monsters." He cursed towards the locust.

"Their families will be notified in the upcoming weeks." Ozpin said making Walker nod.

"Good, they deserve to know." He sighed and went quiet for a minute before looking at the both of them. "So why'd you call me up there besides to inform me about the fact that you are going to notify the familes?" He asked.

"We have been discussing about your teaching position and who is going to be in it." Ozpin said.

"I already know who's going to be in it, the three teams that fought at the battle grounds plus my team." Walker said.

"Not exactly. Us headmasters have been discussing who is going to attend your class." Ozpin said, making Walker groan from his seat.

"Ugh, are you kidding me? I have more to teach? It's bad enough that I have to teach sixteen people about how to combat locust but now I have to teach more. I don't even have a teaching license." Walker whined like a little kid.

"Walker, enough." Glynda demanded.

"Fine..." He muttered.

"I swear you have your moments." She sighed.

"That's what makes me special." He smiled underneath his helmet before dropping it for a serious expression. "But in all seriousness though, when do I expect the transfers?" He asked seriously. Ozpin and Glynda raised an eyebrow at how he went from a little kid to a responsible adult in the span of a few seconds.

"When you begin the class." Ozpin said.

"Huh, is that so? Whelp I guess I better start getting in a routine then." He sighed and fiddled with his watch for a second before nodding towards their direction and walking towards the elevator but stopped once the door. was about to close.

"There something on your mind?" Ozpin asked.

"If I get any disobedience can I hit them like my drill Sargent did to me when I gave him shit?" Walker asked.

"No you may not-" Glynda began.

"Great, thanks for the approval." Walker interrupted and closed the door in their faces. Both blinked for a minute before Ozpin started chuckling while Glynda fumed.

"Oh that boy has some nerve to do that. And what does he need approval to hit them for? Why are you laughing?!" She exclaimed at Ozpin's chuckling figure.

"No reason." He said as he sipped his coffee, recoiling at the cold temperature. "You just act like an agitated mother is all." He muttered.

"If I was his mother I'd-" She suddenly stopped when she was about to finish that sentence, now wasn't the place to say what if about his family. While she experienced loss before, never to his level of it. She had lost her parents due to old age while he lost them while he was still growing, leaving him alone with his little brother to look after, even then his little brother was alone since Walker was on missions half the time. They couldn't say that he didn't care about his little brother since every chance he got he'd bring him to hang out with the team but he just seemed... distant from him. She later found out that his grandfather was still alive and had a position as an engineer that excelled in all the fields and would have Ajay stay with him but his grandmother's whereabouts are currently unknown, only her presence was mentioned but never seen; she disappeared right after the last battle took place. She guessed this is where he learned most of his manners and how to do most of the things. Her thoughts about his past were cut short when Ozpin spoke up.

"Glynda... he'll teach them how he was taught to fight the locust." He said.

"I just can't help but worry that he'll do too much." She sighed.

"Like it or not the children are in a war that they never asked to be in. They need to be taught by a professional on how to combat them, plus he knows the hardships of battle that they don't." He said.

"But what about his mental state?" She asked.

"We'll deal with when Summer and Tai are here. I've seen his level of progress after they all found out about his past, he's been getting better and is more active as opposed when he was with Dead Echo." He said.

"Why didn't they help him out more?" She asked.

"I don't think they all thought they were going to live to see the next day to think about that. Plus they did help him enough to get him out of the suicidal state and saw that they couldn't do more." He summed up.

"Well at least he agreed to let us help... goodnight headmaster." She said and began to walk towards the elevator.

"But it's Monday morning and you have classes." He said with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm taking the day off." She huffed making Ozpin raise an eyebrow.

"Are you sure, I mean what are the children going to do?" He asked.

"Use it as a study period, Oum knows half of them need it seeing as to how Peter is giving them a test tomorrow." She said and left the room. Ozpin was in a perplexed state as of now; Glynda had never taken a day off except the scheduled ones and even then she was either in the office or in the classroom but her actually taking a day off probably is telling something.

"That boy really is something." He said to himself and shut off the computer for the day.

He needed more coffee.

* * *

The girls were sitting on the floor tired from the terrifying event that just happened a couple of hours ago. Ruby sniffled as she thought about all those innocent people that were slaughtered, Yang rocked back and forth as she thought about those humanoid reptilians that were brought straight out of a nightmare, Weiss shivered at the thought of death almost taking her life in a cold grasp, and Blake jumped at every sound, thinking something was around the corner to attack. Each one of them had been deeply affected and never wanted to go through that again but shuddered when the realization that this was only the beginning sunk in. They all gave a girlish scream when the door opened and Walker stepped inside, a bit of blood still caking his clothes and weapons still on him.

"Are you all okay?" He asked.

"No... how do you deal with all of..." Ruby gestured towards all the blood on his clothes.

"You don't pay any attention to it after a couple of battles. After that it just becomes part of the job." He said walking towards the bathroom. He closed the door and locked it before taking off his helmet with hiss, releasing some of the compressed air that always seemed to accumulate inside. His gaze was brought towards the mirror and stared at his face, sighing when there was nothing different except the shine in his eyes that resurfaced a few weeks ago had reverted back to the dark hardened ones. He took off his clothes and entered the shower, turning it on before scrubbing off all the blood and dirt that had stuck there after the locust resurfaced. The water was hot and relaxing, indicating that they had thought about him, but at the same time it was cold. Not temperature wise but the initial feeling, like an itch on your back that you can't scratch. The water bounced off his head and ran down his face before swirling into the drain and into the pipes, it relaxed him greatly as all his problems for now washed down. After seven minutes of washing the water turned to a cool temperature before turning cold, making him shiver slightly and turn it off and stand there as the water just dripped down. His vision warped for a second and showed an image of a bloody figure standing on a mountain of bodies with a familiar weapon in its hand before it warped back to normal.

"I really need to stop staying up so much." He sighed and wrapped a towel around his waist and grabbed his helmet, brushing a thumb over the numerous scratches. It was still in relatively great condition despite having debris, body parts, and bullets impact against it and even survived a fall from a five story building. Shaking his head and placing the helmet over it he visibly relaxed when he heard the dull hum of all the systems in the helmet turn back on; he enjoyed wearing it not only for comfort but also because it wasn't like any other helmet. His dad and grandpa had made this helmet when as soon as he told them he joined, it took almost all the time he spent in AIT to make but was worth it since he always was getting hit in the head, either from Nash or a sniper round.

"I really miss them." He muttered quietly. There was a loud knocking at the door making him snort when he knew who it was.

"Walker hurry up! We're going to be late for classes!" Ruby said, despite her going through a nightmare battle she still retained her cheerful attitude. He was about to step out then realized he didn't have his uniform clean and sighed.

"I don't have my uniform clean." He said.

"Why isn't it clean?" Weiss' voice rang from the other side.

"I uh... forgot to wash it?" He tried and felt Weiss' gaze burn a hole through the door.

"Why do I get the feeling you're lying?" She interrogated.

"Wha? Me, a liar? I think you're thinking of someone else." He said.

"Walker we've spent almost a year together. I know when you're lying." She said.

"Okay, how do you know hmm?" He asked.

"You give this little hitch in your voice and you try to divert the subject with a joke." She explained.

"...That's bullshit and you know it. Hey Yang are any of my clothes clean?" He asked, changing the subject.

"You just did what Weiss said!" Ruby exclaimed.

"No I didn't." He denied.

"Walker yes you did." Blake said reading a book.

"Okay fine... I accidentally washed it in vinegar and forgot to rewash it." He sighed. It was silent for a second before he heard shuffling and Ruby's cry of triumph.

"Found it. It was underneath Blake's bed!" She cheered.

"Huh, well shit. How'd that get there?" He asked. Blake looked at the door with a raised eyebrow and so did Weiss before both of them rolled their eyes and began to separate the clothes and knock on the door. It opened a little bit and his hand came out and grabbed the clothes before disappearing, about a minute later he stepped out with his uniform on, still fiddling with the tie.

"How is it you still don't know how to tie a tie?" Weiss asked and walked over to him.

"Never really bothered to learn how to, plus do I look like I'd wear a suit anytime soon?" He asked.

"Yeah, when you're really old." Yang said.

"Ouch. That stung." He said making her roll her eyes.

"In all seriousness you look good in a suit." Blake complemented.

"Thanks, why don't I ever see any of you in a dress?" He asked.

"Well... I don't really look good in a dress." Ruby mumbled and shuffled her feet.

"Nonsense I'm sure you'd look good in a dress." He said and ruffled her hair, making her puff her cheeks at him.

"Walker, tie." Weiss ordered making him roll his eyes.

"Fine." He said and walked over to her. She finished tying it and pulled on it a bit before dusting off his shoulders before stepping next to the rest. They all looked at him up and down before shooting smiles in his direction while he gave them a thumbs up in return and grabbed his journal.

"Let's get these out of the way." He said and stepped out the door, followed by the four of them.

* * *

Three days had passed and it turns out after the emergence of the locust all classes had been canceled for the rest of the week to help out in the city. It was a lot worse than he thought initially. The emergence had happened all over the world; in Vale, Atlas, Mistral, and even in Vacuo. The news broke out into a huge pandemic and sent the entire world into a pandemonium that made the breach look like child's play. Over one-hundred thousand people died overall in the span of a few hours and to make matters worse this was only the beginning, each of the academies in the kingdoms had to keep their students inside to keep them safe while licensed huntsman and huntresses went out there to try and contain the threat. Only a few returned to tell what happened and even then they never wanted to go back out there and face the new threat. Instead of the locust sacrificing millions to kill a couple of thousand people, they went back underground and sealed themselves off to prevent causalities. That didn't meant they haven't had any due to thousands of them dead on the ground.

 _'They're playing it smart, preferring to go back in their holes as opposed to dealing with heavy causalities on the surface.'_ He thought as he ate his lunch with the girls, JNPR, and CFVY while looking at the news. The entire cafeteria was heavy with tension as everyone looked at their scrolls and felt a lump in their chests when they saw pictures of the locusts for the first time, some kid actually almost pissed himself.

"Hey Walker?" Ruby asked.

"Yep." He said while looking at his watch then at his scroll with a picture of his schedule.

"What are you going to be teaching us?" She asked voicing the opinion of everyone at the table.

"Weapons training, CQB, tactics, and information gathering, plus a little bit of psychological warfare. Not to mention I'll put you all in scenarios that involve different people and you have to complete an objective." He listed and wrote something down on his journal.

"Why would we need weapons training when we already know how to use ours?" Jaune asked.

"You won't always have your weapon on you. You need to sometimes improvise with what's around you; picking up weapons and ammo from fallen enemies and allies, using bodies as sandbags, hell even using the environment around you to kill." He said making them all shudder.

"Did you have to do these?" Velvet asked.

"Wouldn't be here talking to you right now if I didn't." He said making her gulp. It was quiet for a second before Walker stood up and threw something away, checking his scroll then walk back and sit down.

"What was that about?" Blake asked.

"Finally got my schedule finalized. We start the Monday after next week. , due to the locust hitting closer to the cities after bringing down outer settlements." He said.

"Why haven't they called us?" Pyrhha asked.

"All academies as of now have been restricted to only slaying Grimm and are absolutely forbidden from combating locust until they are ready." He said.

"That's not fair! All those people are dying while we're doing nothing." Nora said.

"Yeah but what are we going to do? I'd rather cut the Grimm population down immensely to limit the locust's supply of weapons." He said confusing all of them.

"Why would they need Grimm when they're dangerous themselves?" Ren asked.

"They don't care if they're dangerous by themselves. If they see an animal that looks dangerous then they'll enslave it and force it into their cause." He replied, sending a text on his scroll.

"Have they done it before?" Coco asked.

"Oh yeah. If they've enslaved a forty foot tall reptile and made it into a battle tank then I'm sure they'll do it with the Grimm." He said. Everyone was about to ask some more questions but he held a hand up when he got a call and pressed the side of his helmet, flipping it to a mute channel.

"Go for Walker." He said.

"Geez kid, I know you were in the military but damn." Qrow's voice rang out.

"Dammit Qrow, how'd you get this frequency... and my number?" Walker asked.

"For the frequency, Oz. And for the number, Summer and Tai." Qrow answered.

"I really need to tell Ozpin to stop observing my helmet so much." Walker sighed making Qrow chuckle.

"Yeah, he kind of has to if he wants everyone to be huntsman." Qrow said.

"Yeah... why'd you call?" Walker asked.

"Oz wanted me to tell you about a mission he needs done in the future." Qrow said.

"Why couldn't he just tell me himself?" Walker asked.

"He's busy at the moment." Qrow burped making Walker scowl a bit when he heard laughter in the background and music.

"Are you at a bar?" He asked.

"No, why would you ask that?" Qrow asked.

"I can hear music and laughter in the background, not to mention the occasional drunk rambling." Walker retorted.

"Okay, you got me. But hey this bar has some good alcohol, you should come here sometime." Qrow said.

"I'm not old enough yet and I had enough experience in the past." Walker deadpanned.

"Well suite yourself but speak with Oz a couple of weeks after the new students come and he'll fill you in." Qrow said and cut the line. Walker scowled at the older man's drinking habits and flipped off his radio and saw everyone looking at him with curious expressions.

"Before you ask what it's about, don't worry about it because it's just a mission." He said.

"About?" Nora asked.

"I literally just said don't worry about it." He deadpanned.

"That's kind of suspicious." Nora retorted.

"I'll give you all a test the first week of my class if you push any further." He said stoically making everyone shake their heads quickly.

"Nope we're good. Right?" Yang asked.

"Right." Everyone responded in unison. He laughed at their faces then sighed and got up.

"You all better start getting in an early routine because my class begins at six in the morning." He said.

"Why does it start so early?!" Ruby whined.

"Because I wanted it to." He said cheekily making her pout.

"No but it does start at six-thirty and ends around eight so it isn't that bad." He shrugged.

"Gee thanks for that extra thirty minutes of sleep." Yang said sarcastically. It was silent for a minute and Walker just stared at her for a second before he turned to his scroll.

"Okay, I'll take away that extra thirty minutes." He said, typing on his scroll.

"No, Walker I'm sorry! I'll accept the extra thirty minutes!" She shouted. He laughed and flipped his scroll around to show her a video of Blake asleep sitting up, then him pushing her down roughly.

"Relax, it was just this video of Blake." He laughed making Yang sputter while Blake just grew red with embarrassment and jump over the table to try and swipe the scroll from him. He yelped and bolted out of the lunchroom as she quickly trailed behind him, leaving everyone sitting there laughing as they saw her chase him throughout the courtyard the disappear again.

"Should we help him?" Jaune asked.

"Hmm... nah he'll be fine." Ruby waved.

* * *

"Fuck! This was a really bad idea." He said to himself as Blake ran after him. Despite her being one of the faster members of her team she couldn't even catch Walker when he was sprinting, and when he ran out of stamina it only lasted for a few seconds before he was at it again. She used her semblance to propel herself forward and almost reach him until he suddenly jumped to the left and made her fly forward, skidding towards the ground before rolling a few times and later standing up. Their little chase had lasted almost ten minutes without a break and she was breathing heavily while he looked ready for more.

"How... are... you... still... going?" She panted, placing her hands on her knees.

"I've run a couple of miles a day, plus numerous times where I couldn't afford to stop." He shrugged.

"Give me that scroll." She breathed and began to chase him again.

"Not until you catch me~" He sang and began to run again. It went on for a few minutes with him leading her towards the gym then holding his arms out wide. He dove backwards as soon as she jumped at him but didn't see a left out rolled out mat and collided with it; she heard laughing and looked up to see Walker kneel in front of her.

"Bravo." He clapped then later yelped in surprise when she suddenly sprang up and tackled him to the ground, pinning him.

"Give me the scroll now." She said lowly.

"You have to wretch it from my cold dead hands." He replied cheekily. Her eyes turned to a thin slit and she just stared at him with a neutral expression while he just stared back with a cheeky one underneath his helmet. The staring contest lasted for a minute before he gripped her upper thighs and gave a tight squeeze that made her yelp and sit up quickly. Her face grew red and she just stared at Walker, who used this opportunity to sit up, before being shoved off.

"You are so fun to tease." He laughed and offered a hand to her. She accepted it and stood up before brushing herself off.

"You're just flirty." She huffed.

"Well I do it from the bottom of my heart." He said while placing a hand over his heart. She just huffed again and rolled her eyes before going silent for a minute, just basking in it.

"You know I did this to gauge your limits right?" He asked.

"You did?" She asked.

"Yep. Had to see what your weakness was and I found it." He nodded.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Stamina. There were at least three times you could have caught me when I stopped. So from now on you'll do more stamina training with me and Ren." He said.

"Why Ren?" She asked.

"Despite him being nimble and agile, he had little to no stamina. If he ran out at the wrong time then he'd be dead faster than Cardin on a test day." He chuckled. Blake giggled at the jab towards the used to be racist then went quiet for a moment, something Walker noticed.

"What's on your mind?" He asked and began to walk with her outside.

"Just... how do you do it?" She asked, glancing at him.

"Do what?" He asked while playing Grimm legends on his scroll.

"Change people." She said.

"I don't." He replied. She was about to retort but he held up a hand. "People change on their own, well not necessarily, but you get the idea. I didn't force you to stop wearing your bow I merely just said what would happen if you didn't wear it so often. Not only are you more open about being a faunus but you actually started engaging in conversations rather than being secluded. I didn't change Cardin from being a racist asshole to a tolerable individual, he did that on his own after I threatened him... well I sort of forced him to change I guess. The point is Blake, I don't make people do the things they do. They do it themselves. I just give them an option on being better." He explained and turning back to his game. She thought about all that he had done in the past months of being here. Not only had he got her out of her secluded nature but he also brought the team together and made them have a tighter bond than blood, to the point where she viewed the other three like sisters. He wasn't racist, narcissistic, arrogant, or even evil in any sense. He was just someone who had lost a lot and tried to make good of what he had at the moment, because it wasn't everyday you die and come to a world that has people with extra appendages. What made him truly special was the fact that he was willing to stay here and fight with them instead of leaving like his message with Ozpin the night the locust appeared.

"Hey Walker?" She asked.

"Yep?" He asked back while tapping his screen repeatedly.

"What's Sera like, I don't mean how violent it is. but scenery wise." She said while walking towards the dorm rooms.

"Hmm, never really had the chance to take it in, but the few places I actually took in were pretty good looking." He said.

"Huh, that's nice." She said and opened the door to see Ruby, Weiss, and Yang on their beds. The three of them looked up from their activities and gave a small wave before turning back. Walker shot Blake a glance and walked over to her bed and lied down on it, dozing off but later woke when Blake sat on it. He didn't say anything and just got underneath her covers and fell asleep, much to her surprise and everyone else's.

"Is... is he really asleep?" Yang asked not believing the fact that he's actually taking a nap. Throughout the entire time they've known him none of them had seen him take a single nap nor fall asleep before them.

"We should draw on his face!" Ruby quietly shouted making Weiss look in her direction.

"Ruby, he will eat you alive if you even think about it." She warned.

"It'll be fine." She waved off and quietly stepped up to Walker and uncapped a marker, holding it close to her face.

"Ruby you disturb my nap and I will eat your cookie stash that's underneath your pillow." He said tiredly. She quickly flashed a smile and tossed the marker over her shoulder before going in front of her bed and opening her magazine again. Blake raised an eyebrow as to why he decided to pick her bed to sleep in, he had four choices yet here he was sleeping in her's. She sighed a bit and walked over to her bed and reached under it before grabbing a book and sitting near Walker, he didn't even make a sound as he slept. It was quiet for an hour before Yang started muttering curses loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Why are you cursing Yang?" Ruby deadpanned.

"Walker has more Grimm than me in Grimm legends. How does he even have that many when he just started like a month ago?" Yang exclaimed.

"What's the big deal?" Weiss asked making Yang hop off her bunk and walked up to her.

"Okay, you see this?" Yang asked, showing her world with only three islands and a few good Grimm. Weiss nodded with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, it's your world. So what?" She asked.

"This... is Walker's." Yang gestured and clicked on Walker's icon, which had a cog on it. His world loaded and it showed seven islands with farms, legendary habitats with Grimm, an arena, and Grimm that were adorable yet terrifying. In other words, it put Yang's to shame. Weiss raised an eyebrow at the amount of Grimm he had and now understood why Yang seemed so pissed, as far as anyone knew Yang had the best out of all of them and her being surpassed really struck a nerve.

"How does he even get this many? It took me almost a year to get all this and I still don't have a legendary." She huffed.

"I don't know, you could always ask him." Ruby advised, flipping a page in her magazine.

"He'll probably say he earned them the hard way." Yang said.

"Actually, Rachel bought half of them." He said making them all look over in his direction as he sat up from the bed.

"How was your nap?" Blake asked, not taking her eyes off the book.

"Actually for once... it wasn't half bad." He stretched before lying back down. "Holy shit on a stick. Your bed is comfortable, why?" He asked.

"I don't know, probably because I keep it tidy." She shrugged.

"Or it could be because of all these cat pillows you have." He commented while picking up a pillow and looking at one of them. Her eyes widened and she quickly hopped on the bed and tried to swipe it from him. Both of them turned into a rolling bundle of blankets as Blake tried to swipe her pillow back while Walker kept moving it away; this went on for a while before he suddenly fell off the bed and landed hard on his back.

"Ughhhhh, that hurt." He groaned then spit up a bit when Blake landed on his stomach and crashed on top of him. It was quiet for a minute before Yang soared through the air while shouting at the top of her lungs.

"Dog pile!" She laughed loudly.

"Yay!" Ruby shouted gleefully.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Walker and Blake shouted in unison but fell on deaf ears as both sisters landed on top of them roughly and clung onto them. Ruby and Yang stood on top while striking a heroic pose and having the time of their lives, the two under them weren't. Walker didn't know whether to laugh or wince in pain when Yang dug her foot in his spine and Blake didn't know whether to hiss or sigh when Ruby did the same. Weiss just slapped her face and dragged it down as she looked at the other four.

"Weiss! Take a picture!" Ruby said quickly.

"Why would I do that?" She asked.

"Because I want to savor this moment." Ruby said.

"Fine... you dolt." She sighed and brought out her scroll, snapping a picture of the four then smirking when Walker lifted both of them off of him. The three of them were suddenly pinned underneath and began to laugh loudly, with the exception of Blake who just sighed and began to try and get out. His scroll buzzed and he pulled it out and read the message before sighing loudly and getting off of them, helping each one of them up.

"I'll see you all later." He sighed.

"Where are you going?" Yang asked.

"I have to go through a tour of my classroom." He said.

"Have fun!" Ruby said.

"Yeah... oh and let me be clear. I won't go easy on you guys." He said and walked out the door. All four of them knew that tone too well and shuddered a bit. This was really one of the last days they'd actually have it easy and they intended to use it well.

"Hey Blake?" Yang asked.

"Yeah?" She asked back.

"You and Walker really looked good in bed. You mind if I join next time~" Yang flirted.

"Yang!" Blake shouted with a red face.

* * *

The tour of his classroom wasn't all that bad to be honest, a little boring but informative overall. Goodwitch had been the one to show him around and wow, she was gave a lot of details. It was sectioned off in another building and was supposed to be taken down at the end of the year but seeing as to how the locust appeared Ozpin had put it to use. It was around two stories tall, had a sort of symmetrical look, a large section to the right used for a pool and gym, a medium sized section for weapon tinkering with a built in workshop, and a very large back area for a track field with a large pool area to the side. There was also a little colonial looking dorm that looked a bit old.

"Well damn." Walker whistled as they walked throughout the complex.

"Yes, we were going to take it down at the end of the year but the headmaster decided to use it as a training ground for your students." Glynda said.

"Oh god, please don't say it like that. You make me sound three times older than what I am." He said.

"Well you act like it." She replied.

"Yeah because half the people I hung around were usually ranged from the age of late twenties to early seventies." He said. She raised an eyebrow at him and concluded this is where he learned half the things he did, from older people with some experience underneath their belts.

"How old was your team?" She asked.

"Nash was going on to thirty-seven, Fred was also that age, Kelly was thirty-six, and Amelia was the same age as Nash and Fred." He said.

"So you've hung out with adults pretty much half your life? What about kids your age?" She asked.

"Never really had any friends when I was younger, nobody wanted to be friends with a kid that never shown his face." He sighed.

"I'm sorry." She apologized.

"Eh, sucks for them. I ended up helping save the world while they were probably in their bunkers sipping on their champagne." He shrugged.

"People did that?" She asked incredulously, not believing that people would let others do the dirty work for them.

"Oh yeah, half the high and mighty rich fucks wanted the working class to do their work for them while they lived the good life in a bunker. Though the other half actually helped fight, those are the ones I respect." He said, entering the dorm house and frowning a bit when he saw the state it was in. The wallpaper was peeling off and grey in color, the floor had holes in it and was rotting, and there were a few leaks in the ceiling that would occasionally drip with water. His foot suddenly dropped when he stepped on a loose floor board and fell in the ground.

"How the hell is this place?" He asked as he ripped his foot out with a loud crack.

"I don't know sadly. This place hasn't been tended to in years, that's why we were going to take it down." She sighed. It was silent for a minute as Walker went up to a wall and began to peel off some of the wallpaper.

"We're going to fix this place right?" He asked.

"Oh course. The headmaster wants you all to move in here once it's finished." She said.

"Okay cool, because this place doesn't look half bad." He commented.

"Glad someone thinks that... well now that the tour is done you should prepare for next week. Every month we teachers have a meeting to see the progress of our students so be sure to set reminders." She turned to look around then stopped when she saw Walker fiddling with his watch.

"I'm sorry, you were saying?" He asked.

"You already have them set don't you?" She deadpanned.

"Every month on the thirty-first. Every time it comes up it'll pop up on my objectives in my helmet." He tapped the side of his helmet, making a dull pinging noise.

"I'm just glad you're more responsible than most students." She sighed. He laughed lightly and began to walk out of the dorm house.

"If I wasn't I'd be dead." He said lightheartedly over his shoulder. Leaving Glynda alone in the old dorm house with her thoughts about the future.

* * *

 **One week later:**

The week had gone by quicker than anybody wanted but came nonetheless. While usually the students at Beacon saw it as another day, the transfer students were somewhat excited at going to the famed academy yet also saddened they had to leave theirs. They had been hearing news of a threat more dangerous than the Grimm themselves and were going to be taught by a professional that's dealt with them before, whoever it was they must be good if they can help teach them to combat them. All the transfer students came from different academies from all over the globe, they had been put through a test to see if they were qualified to be transferred to Beacon to be trained by this 'professional'.

"Who do you think it is?" Nebula asked. Nebula was the leader of the all female team NDGO. She wore a tight fitting long necked grey shirt with a light blue coat and had indigo hair that was brushed to her left side.

"I don't know. Do you think they're as professional as they say?" Dew asked. She had tanned skin with dark blond hair and wore a green sleeveless dress that had a sort of asymmetrical design to it.

"From rumors I've heard, he's around our age." Gwen said. Gwen was a tanned skin girl that wore a black corset dress that had a long dark grey front.

"Are you sure? I highly doubt that." Octavia said. Octavia had fair skin, red hair, and wore a blue crop vest with a dress. **(AN:This may seem lazy for me but I'm not about to describe what every character looks like. Just look them up.)**

"Yeah, I've been hearing that too. Supposedly he's been fighting these things for years and knows everything about them." Brawnz chimed in as he typed on his scroll, reading about the new threat. It was quiet for a second.

"Hey May, what ya got there?" Nolan asked as he leaned next to his teammate and saw her looking at a picture of Walker's sniper. "You're still fawning over that dude's sniper?" He deadpanned.

"Yeah I am, so fuck off." She shrugged him off.

"I mean what's so special about it? He has to reload it after every shot and it looks old. I'm surprised it even worked." He said.

"What are you guys talking about?" Nebula asked towards her sister team.

"That mysterious dude that never revealed his face." Nolan said. Making team NDGO perk up a bit at the mention of the person they were talking about. Every other team on the bullhead also perked up, specifically two people.

"You mean Walker Ronin?" Sun asked.

"You know him?" May asked.

"Ummm, know isn't really the right term." Sun said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"We've met him." Neptune said.

"Really?! What's he like?!" A cat faunus with reddish-orange hair asked excitedly.

"He's ripped. And I'm not talking about steroids ripped, I mean like he's been working out since the age of ten ripped. He's pretty fucking intimidating when he's really close to you. One moment he's a cool dude to hang around then the next minute he seems like the devil." Neptune shuddered when he thought about that soul piercing gaze Walker gave him and Sun.

"What'd you guys do to piss him off?" Sage asked, never hearing about their encounter with Walker. He didn't need an explanation of the dude because he already knew what he looked like, at first glance he just looked like another soldier from Atlas that would fight like they had a stick up their ass, but upon actually taking a closer observation he realized the dude was an unhinged yet tactical fighter who looked ready to level the entire city block if provoked.

"We uh... didn't talk to highly of him in front of his team." Sun said.

"How'd that turn out?" Flynt said with a raised eyebrow.

"It didn't turn out well, he didn't care but his team did. He later confronted us about it and told us to apologize to him." Neptune replied.

"If by confront you mean get freakishly close to us while twisting his head at an unnatural angle until we submitted then yes." Sun commented. Everyone in the bullhead raised an eyebrow at them then shook their heads and went quiet for a minute.

"What team is a part of?" Nebula asked.

"Team RWBY." Sun said, making everybody blank except the members of Team ABRN and Penny.

"That explains why he's so good at fighting. He's probably right underneath Yang in close quarter's combat." Arslan muttered.

"Negative. Ruby, my friend, reports that he's on par with Yang if not better than her at hand-to-hand combat." Penny had informed.

"So if I were to get into a fight with him right now, would he win or lose?" Arslan questioned.

"From reports of the general's analysis of him, he seems to have a very analytical mind and is able to judge his opponents fighting styles in a matter of mere minutes. So your chances of winning in a match against him would range around 37.935% and that's if you aren't using your weapon." Penny said in robotic tone, making everybody look at her weird.

"What if I am?" Arslan asked.

"Around 45% percent." Penny said. Arslan looked at her weirdly before muttering something underneath her breath. The ride was quiet for a minute before it suddenly jerked to the side and landed roughly on the ground, slowly opening the doors and flooding the bullhead with more light. As everyone exited the bullhead, they were taken aback at how gorgeous this place looked, they had seen it in pictures but looking at it up close was a lot different. Even Sun and Neptune were still in awe at the sight.

"Wow." Gwen breathed as she looked around.

"Yeah, hard to believe we're actually going to be staying here." Octavia commented. They all wondered around for a minute before they saw Ozpin walking towards them with Glynda and Walker in tow, the latter looking at his scroll and typing something on it. His lancer was on his back and the chainsaw teeth seemed to shimmer off the sun but have faint traces of blood on it; his sniper was on and seemed to be lightly smoking from use.

"Good evening students, I see you all have made it." Ozpin said. All of them gave a small smile and a curt nod. "As you all know you have been hand selected in advanced training and will be sent into the field for special operations. While I would give you all a speech about your accomplishments, now really isn't the time nor place." He added and gave a curt nod to Glynda before disappearing.

"Please follow us for a tour of where you will be training and residing." She gestured. All of them nodded and began to follow the two, most of them looking in Walker's direction and took in his physic.

"Holy shit. You weren't kidding when you said he was ripped." Sage whispered to Neptune, who kept his distance.

"Yeah, no. He literally looks like he's been working out since he was ten. It doesn't help that he has this mysterious vibe about him... which attracts more women in his direction." Neptune said.

"Mysterious vibe?" Nebula whispered to them.

"Yeah, from what people say around Beacon he's never shown his face or told anyone his past. Plus there's no records of him in the system anywhere, they say he just showed up one day." Neptune said.

"Because I did." Walker said making everyone jump. They were whispering to the point where they were barely making a sound.

"Oh hey Walker... you heard us?" Neptune asked sheepishly.

"Yeah I did. Just because I wear this fucking helmet doesn't mean I'm deaf. So if you got something to say then say it to my face instead of whispering it behind my back." He deadpanned. Everyone's jaws dropped as they just witnessed him cuss in front of a administrator and she didn't even care!

"You all better close your mouths or a bug will fly in." He said nonchalantly over his shoulder.

"Walker, behave." Glynda said. Sun and Neptune's eyes widened a bit as they heard her tone, last time they were here she was some uptight bitch who had a stick up her ass all the time but now she sounded like a mother who had to reprimand a teenage boy. What the hell is going on?

"So where are we going?" Walker asked.

"We're going to show them the training area then the dorm house that should be up by next week." She said.

"Okay. What then?" He asked.

"Then you all prepare for class monday, well they do. You and I need to speak with Ozpin." She answered.

"He always wants to talk with me, what does he want now?" He sighed.

"It's about a mission." She informed. While they were having their conversation the teams were listening in, although some were feeling a bit uncomfortable about eavesdropping on the two. If he's getting missions already by the headmaster then he must be skilled. Rumor has it that only some of the best students get missions from the academy headmasters, and even then they were dangerous.

"Are the girls coming? Or am I going in alone again?" He asked. He's done more than one and alone? Only people skilled enough to be veteran huntsman take missions alone.

"Alone. And please try to not make such a mess this time." She sighed. Wait... mess?

"Okay, the last time you have to admit it was pretty cool." He pointed to her.

"No, it wasn't Walker. Ms. Rose had been complaining to me that she's still trying to get blood out of your clothes. Not to mention Ms. Belladonna has had to tend to you more times than I can count." Glynda sighed. Sun perked up a bit at the sound of Blake's last name and decided that this would be the perfect time to apologize to her and try to get on her good side again. He looked up and could just feel Walker narrow his eyes at him behind his helmet, making him shudder.

"I'll try but no promises. Oh would you look at that, we're here." Walker said as he looked at the training area. The three teams gaped in awe at the size and quality of the training area, this little section beat theirs by a land slide. They all began to walk by the pool area, much to Neptune's chagrin, and stood there as Glynda explained the uses of the pool area and around. As she explained the area around and its uses Walker droned her out and listened closely to the background and swore he heard the sound of feet running towards him, upon closer listening it sounded like multiple feet coming towards him at a fast pace. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath while twisting his neck and making it crack loudly, disturbing the transfer students a bit at the sound.

"Is he alright?" Nebula pointed at Walker who was stretching while sighing in relief when his back popped.

"Yes, he usually does that when he's getting ready to fight." Glynda sighed as she looked at him.

"Walker, bro are you alright?" Neptune asked.

"I'm not your bro and yes... can you move to the right just a tad bit?" Walker asked.

"Uh, sure?" Neptune said in an unsure tone and moved a bit.

"Thanks." Walker said and quickly pulled out his sniper and fired a round at Ruby, who hid in the bushes. She yelped and used her semblance to quickly dash to the right before turning crescent rose into scythe form and springing at Walker, swinging at a diagonal angle. He sidestepped the attack and brought out his lancer and revved up the chainsaw and swung at her quickly, making her jump up in the air and spin forward quickly. She expected him to dodge or try and block it but didn't expect him to jump up and grab the handle before wrenching it from her grasp and tossing it to side, near the transfer students. They all looked confused then blanked when they saw Ruby give a sloppy uppercut and Walker sidestep it before quickly swinging the chainsaw towards her neck.

"Children!" Glynda scolded. The chainsaw stopped a few inches from Ruby's neck and just stayed there with a loud horrible sound before it turned off and he put it back on his back.

"You need to work on your hand-to-hand and stealth but otherwise good job at getting back up after that sniper shot." He ruffled her hair.

"Dang it Walker! Stop ruffling my hair!" She whined, pounding his chest like a child. ABRN raised an eyebrow at her demeanor, this was the girl that fought them like a licensed huntsman?

"Can't ruffle Yang's because she'd castrate me." He shrugged.

"What does that mean?" She asked, making the others turn away. She's too innocent to be exposed to this dark world.

"I'll tell you later. We have guest." He sighed and turned to the transfer students, along with Ruby who beamed at the sight of half of them.

"Oh my goodness! Welcome to Beacon! I'm Ruby Rose, leader of Team Ruby and this is Walker the co-captain. I'm so glad you all are going here now! That means we can trade weapon schematics, be friends, do things that friends do, have slumber parties, watch scary movies together, eat together- Mmpfff!" Her mouth was suddenly covered when Walker stuck his hand over it and looked at the students who gave her a weird look.

"She likes to ramble. In case you haven't noticed this little squirt in Ruby and I'm Walker." He said nonchalantly.

"Nice to meet you." They all said in their own way. He let go of Ruby's mouth and she blushed in embarrassment at the sight of so many people looking at her, especially Arslan.

"So what are you doing here Ruby?" Walker asked as he walked over to her downed weapon and tossed it to her, she caught it with ease and flashed a smile at him.

"Everyone is going swimming and we wanted to know if you wanted to come." She said. He looked at Glynda and saw she had that look on her face and typed something on his scroll before looking at her with a cheeky expression underneath his helmet.

"You didn't." Glynda said with narrowed eyes.

"Get the mission details in the span of a few seconds just by going through the computer system? Yes... yes I did." He smiled.

"How?" She pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Ms. Goodwitch. One of my specialties is information gathering. I've done this since I was ten." He chuckled.

"Fine, since you have that out of the way. You can show them the rest." She huffed and walked away, making him blink. He turned back to the twenty plus students who were just standing there; sighing in annoyance he clapped loudly and gestured for them to follow.

"Alright, follow me and I'll show you your temporary rooms until the dorm house is fixed." He said.

"What, is it down?" Nolan asked in an uncaring tone, not seeing the point of being shown around.

"Yeah, that's why I said your temporary dorms until the dorm house is fixed. Maybe if you were listening you would have heard it earlier." Walker replied sarcastically making Nolan growl. They all were lead in silence with the exception of Ruby humming happily while having a slight skip to her step and Walker flipping his combat knife in the air nonchalantly.

"Are you over compensating something with the size of that knife?" Nolan remarked, making May and Octavia laugh a bit.

"I dunno. Are you trying to not be a fucking hipster with that retarded ass get up? Because if you are then it clearly isn't working pal." Walker chuckled lowly. Ruby tried to stifle her laughter at the jab but failed to in the end as she started giggling quietly. Nolan's face began to heat up with anger. First he was dragged from his beloved school, next he was selected to go to one of the most preppiest ones out there, and finally he had to stick with this asshole until he was going to be taught by this so called professional.

"I honestly hate this place." He murmured.

"Then take your ass out of here and leave." Walker said as he walked up to the door and stopped.

"I can't." Nolan replied.

"Actually you can. You're not imputed in the system yet so you're free to leave as you wish." Walker shrugged. May was immediately on Nolan's side and glared at Walker.

"We really don't have a choice here. So just show us the shit house and fuck off with your little red hussy." She growled. The moment she finished that sentence Ruby's eyes watered a bit and it went silent for a minute; they could feel the air around them dip down to almost a subzero temperature. It was so quiet that even Neon shuffled uncomfortably.

"What? Don't have anything to say? I figured from someone who won't even show his face, you probably have such a fucked up one even your mother wouldn't love-" She couldn't even finish before she found herself in a bone crushing head lock half a second later with a huge serrated edge knife to her throat. Nolan immediately ran towards them and swung his weapon at him but Walker kicked him in the stomach and sent him flying on the ground, he was about to get up but widened his eyes when he saw a heavy looking pistol pointed right between his eyes.

"You can talk about me all you want... but you do not talk about my friends or my family in any way shape or form." He said in a dead cold tone that made them all shudder, even Ruby. Brawnz tried to attack from behind but immediately stopped when a Boltok round whizzed passed his face and made a really thin cut on his cheek, completely ignoring his aura. Everyone backed away as he held both of them hostage, with Nolan at pistol point and May in a bone crushing grip. Her eyes began to turn bloodshot and her face began to turn blue as oxygen began to be cut off, making her hit his arms desperately.

"Walker, stop. I'm fine." Ruby said. He looked over and saw that she had rubbed her tears away and was putting on a forced smile, that trick might have worked if he was ten but it wasn't even fazing him now.

"You two are lucky she's here. Because if she wasn't then I'd kill you in a heartbeat." He said coldly and threw May on Nolan roughly. She gasped and sputtered as oxygen began to make its way into her lungs. Walker didn't even say anything and just kicked the door to the dorm house in, making it fly off its hinges and land loudly on the ground.

"C-can we go inside now?" Gwen asked nervously.

"Yeah... you can. Watch your step because the floor boards are loose and have big ass nails in them. Come on Ruby, let's get out of here." He said quietly. Ruby shot an apologetic glance at them and began to follow Walker who leaked a murderous aura that made everyone think twice about crossing him again.

"I'm glad we didn't piss him off that bad." Sun muttered to Neptune.

"Yeah..." He replied.

"Fucking psycho." May coughed.

"You two did talk about his teammate in front of him." Roy said.

"Yeah but he wasn't going to do anything." Octavia said, helping them up.

"Actually he was." Penny chimed in making everyone look at her. "There was an 93% chance he was going to pull the trigger and an 85% chance that he was going to sever her carotid artery afterwords. So yes, he was going to kill them in cold blood and possibly not feel any remorse." She added, making them all blank, before walking towards Ruby's retreating figure.

"Holy shit." Dew muttered as she gagged at the thought of the her friends lying dead on the pavement. Is this why he's been selected to do the headmaster's missions? Because he's pretty much a deranged psychopath that enjoyed the sight of blood in disguise?

"We shouldn't have said yes." Nebula shuddered. Exploring the rest of the under construction dorm house.

* * *

These were the disrespectful fucks that he was teaching combat the locust? He was better off teaching Cardin how to become an actual liked person than teach them how to fight. Him and Ruby were heading back to the dorm in silence, mostly because she was afraid of provoking him since he was giving off a very murdering like vibe right now and honestly it scared her. The finally reached the door and he opened it for her before stepping in himself, closing the door behind and sighing. He saw all three of them in their swimsuits and raised an eyebrow.

"When are we going swimming?" He asked.

"Jaune and them are heading over right now, Coco and her team are heading over when they find Yatsuhashi's trunks, and Cardin and them are heading over later. They're probably not going to show since they actually decided to study for port's quiz on Monday." Yang said.

"No shit?" He asked, not believing that they were actually going to do something productive.

"Yeah, we're going as soon as you and Ruby change... Ruby? Ruby what's wrong?" Yang asked as she saw Ruby with little tears in her eyes.

"Nothing." She sniffled.

"Ruby, I'm your sister. I know when you're crying. What happened?" Yang asked with a worried/stern expression. Ruby just shook her head and went to the closet to pick out her swimsuit and went in the bathroom to change in silence. Everyone stared at the bathroom door with worried expressions and turned to Walker, who just took off his shirt.

"Assholes decided to call her a hussy in front of me." He said, making their expressions harden. Weiss' aura gave off the chill of an unflinching blizzard, Blake's eyes turned to slits and glowed a bright amber, and Yang's hair was visibly on fire with blood red eyes that shown brightly.

"Who?" Yang practically snarled.

"That bitch May and her fucking hipster boyfriend Nolan." Walker said. Yang was about to storm out the room but stopped when Walker gripped her arm and actually rooted her in place. She whipped around and glared at him but he gave no reaction and just stared back.

"Let me go so I can murder them." Yang growled.

"Don't Yang. Here's what's going to happen if you do. Ozpin will have to kick you out of Beacon and throw you in prison, you'll be known as a murderer rather than a huntsman, and finally the locust will catch you when you're the most vulnerable." He said calmly.

"Why are you so calm?" She seethed as did the other two.

"I'm not Yang. In fact I'm fucking livid at those two little shits. I was actually going to murder them in front of their friends to set an example but Ruby stopped me." He said. Yang's eyes immediately turned back to lilac and the other two calmed down.

"Wouldn't you get in trouble?" Weiss asked.

"No, without me then Ozpin and the rest of humanity will fall by the locust. Plus the headmaster of the other academies specifically stated that they had to listen to me and if they provoke me into doing something drastic then it's on them." He said. They all stopped when the bathroom door suddenly opened and they saw Ruby in a red and black tow piece, rubbing her arm sheepishly.

"H-how do I look?" She stuttered.

"Pretty good sis." Yang said as she flashed a thumbs up.

"Damn, looking pretty sexy." Walker said cheekily making her face flush red. He laughed and tapped her shoulder as he walked by, making her face flush an even more red. It went quiet for a minute before he came out of the bathroom with a pair of black and gold polyester shorts.

"Hmm, we need a group picture." He said making Yang beam.

"Alright!" She cheered and took up Walker's back while Blake took his left, Weiss took his right, and Ruby took right in front of him. All of them gave a wide smile as the camera flashed and the picture loaded. It showed all four of them having the happiest expressions with nothing but their swimsuits and shorts in his exception.

"Send that to all of us." Ruby said, back in her jovial personality once again.

"Alright." He chuckled and tapped his scroll a few times, sending the picture to each one of them.

"Nice." Ruby pumped her fist and held onto the scroll as they all headed out the door. Ruby and Yang were up ahead while Weiss and Blake stayed behind and just walked next to Walker in a comfortable silence. It was times like these that made him enjoy the phrase 'Got to enjoy the little things', because you never knew when another peaceful time like this was going to happen.

"You know you girls look good in swimsuits right?" He asked them.

"Really? I don't really go out a lot." Weiss said as she looked at her two piece.

"Well technically they're bikinis but semantics." He shrugged, making them flash a smile.

"Thanks Walker, why'd you choose that?" Blake asked.

"Because they're comfortable. Plus I don't want to show my package to anyone; a speedo will just break apart because of how big my dick is." He joked making their faces turn red. He saw their faces and laughed at them while pulling them close to him. "No but seriously, these are like really comfortable. I actually slept in them one night." He added.

"Wow." Blake said. He gave a light laugh and walked with them in silence for a few minutes before they reached the pool to see Yang and Ruby already in with Jaune and them near, Jaune was wearing a pair of shorts like him.

"Eh What's up Jaune?!" Walker shouted, making Jaune look at him and give a wave.

"Nothing much Walker, when'd you get here?" Jaune asked as he and Pyrrha, who was wearing a pure red bikini, walked over and talked with them.

"Just now actually. Damn dude, look at you two." Walker gestured towards the two as they looked down.

"Yeah, this is actually the first time in public that I've had my shirt off." Jaune said sheepishly.

"Do it more often, I'm sure _someone_ would love it." He said towards Pyrrha, who blushed in response.

"Really?" Jaune asked hopefully.

"Yeah, and hey Jaune?" Walker asked.

"Yeah." He answered. Walker didn't reply back and just backed up a bit before running forward and tackling Jaune into the pool with a loud shout, making a huge splash appear in the water. They later resurfaced and Jaune gasped loudly before whipping his head back and forth to rid his face and hair of water, spraying it everywhere while Walker just let it run down his helmet. Pyrrha giggled as Jaune jumped on Walker and submerged him before Blake and Weiss joined in on the laughter as they saw Jaune suddenly flip over as when Walker grabbed his feet and dunk him under.

"You ain't got shit on me Jaune!" Walker laughed loudly.

"No but I do!" Yang shouted and quickly swam towards him and shoved her chest in his face, submerging him while laughing loudly. Bubbles began to come up violently as he thrashed around while Yang still held onto him. She gave a girlish scream when Walker went between her legs and stood up, having her sit on his shoulders and turned towards Jaune, who gulped.

"With our powers combined." Walker laughed as he and Yang began to tower over Jaune. There was suddenly a loud war cry and all three turned to see Nora leap in the pool and create a huge splash, wearing a pink bikini while Ren wore green and pink shorts.

"Don't worry fearless leader! We have come to your aid!" She shouted and quickly swam over to assist him. Yang looked at Walker and gave a curt nod while he shot one back and began to make his way towards them while Yang gave a war cry and jumped in the air. She plummeted down to the water and smashed her fist near Jaune, Nora, and Ren, sending them up into the air and landing back in the pool with a huge splash. Pyrrha, Weiss, and Blake smiled at the scene. Blake then saw Walker disappear for a minute before she felt something on her ankle and looked down to see his hand grip it; she shakily looked up to see his helmet slowly emerge from the water and stare at her, sending chills through her spine.

"Blake..." He said.

"Y-yeah?" She gulped.

"Guess what's warm?" He asked.

"What?" She asked back then widened her eyes. "Walker, no!" She shouted.

"Walker yes. Now get in the pool!" He shouted as he suddenly sprang up and grabbed both her wrist and slipped with her into the pool. She yelped loudly as she collided with the water, thrashing around for a second before she reemerged with a slightly agitated look; her cat ears wildly flicked the water away as she brushed her now wet hair to the side and looked at Walker.

"You asshole." She said with a gritted teeth, splashing water in his face. He laughed as she did and just stood in the shallow end next to him, still flicking water off her cat ears. Everyone else was in the deep end trying to submerge each other while they just stood in the shallow end and floated there, well Walker did anyway. Blake just stood there with water dripping from her form.

"Are you mad?" He asked.

"Yes! I wanted to read a book in the sun. Not get in the water." She exclaimed.

"Oh come on Blake. Look the water is warm, the sun is out, the sky is clear, and not to mention. I'm not training you all at six in the morning." He said lightheartedly.

"Well I still wanted to read." She huffed. He shook his head and sat up on the ledge, water dripping from his body, and went behind Blake.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Calming you down." He replied.

"I am calm." She said.

"No you're not because you're hissing." He said. She was about to deny it but then he gently grabbed her cat ears and started to rub the tips in a slow circular motion. All tension in her body immediately ceased to exist as Walker continued to rub her ears soothingly; she began to give a quiet purr but gradually began to get louder as Walker hit a sweet spot near the center. He seemed to notice and leaned next to her.

"You enjoying this?" He asked.

"Mhmm, very much." She breathed quietly.

"Good." He chuckled and started to continue to massage her ears. Both thumbs gently rubbed the tips in small circles before they got bigger and went back to the center of her ears, he then went to her human ears and began to rub the lobs in the same fashion; this continued on for a few minutes before he stopped.

"Why'd you stop?" She whined.

"Because you were falling asleep, and Ruby and the rest want one." He said. Blake looked up and indeed saw the other three wanting an ear message also, or just one in general.

"Who's first?" He asked.

"Me!" Yang shouted. He nodded and gestured for her to go on a nearby chair. She lied down stomach first and began to sigh in relief when he Walker went in circular motions near her shoulder blades and the middle of her back slowly, once he got near her lower spine he gently rubbed it up and down before tracing his hand back up between her shoulder blades and pressing down, popping her back.

"Phew. Thanks Walker." She stretched and sat down on a nearby bench, basking in the sun.

"Yep. Who's next?" He asked. Weiss raised her hand quickly and made Ruby groan. She lied down on the bench and Walker rubbed his hands together before placing them on her back and massaging them in circles, making her breath in relief. The massage went on for a few minutes before he rubbed her shoulders gently and stretched them out. All tension from last week had disappeared in the span of a few minutes thanks to his massage.

"Where'd you learn how to do that" She stretched and sat next to Yang, who had a drink in her hand.

"Kelly taught me how to do it. She usually used Fred and I as test dummies since we always got hurt first." He said.

"If I ever met her then I'd give her my thanks." She said.

Ruby was the last one to lie on the bench; she closed her eyes as his hands began to work out all the knots in her muscles and get rid of any tension. He gently rubbed her shoulders in small circles then moved to her shoulder blades and gently rubbed them in a similar fashion. Pretty soon his hands roamed down to her sides and stayed there for a minute, just massaging in slow circles before going back up to her shoulders and rubbing them. He stopped after a few more minutes and sat down on the bench, looking at Ruby and saw that she was asleep.

"Damn, Walker. Why didn't you give us a massage like that?" Yang pouted playfully.

"She looked like she needed it. Seeing as to how she had to deal with locust, classes, and that little bitch calling her a hussy I think she at least deserved it." He shrugged.

"Well I want another one." Yang said.

"I agree with Yang. That felt weird to say." Weiss said as Yang stuck out her tongue.

"Yeah, I want one too." Blake nodded, rubbing her cat ears.

"I'll give you all another one tonight." He said, making them put their fingers on their chins then nod in conformation. All of them just basked in the sun for a few minutes before Walker looked to his left and saw CFVY make their way outside with a few towels. Coco was wearing a dark brown two piece and had a beach hat on, with her trade-mark sunglasses on her face. Velvet had on a one piece swimsuit on with a hat that matched Coco's but had two holes on the head for her ears to go through, overall she looked a bit embarrassed at being outside. Yatsuhashi wore a pair of olive green trunks that barely touched his knees, and finally Fox wore a pair of orange trunks but he had on a t-shirt to hide any scars on his body from being shown. All four of them noticed them and began to walk over with light expressions on their faces.

"Wow, looking good." Coco whistled as she lowered her glasses to look at them.

"Thanks, what took you all so long though?" Walker asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yatsuhashi couldn't find a pair of shorts that fit him properly so we stole a pair from the staff." She said.

"Damn dude." Walker said as he looked at Yatsuhashi.

"It happens, some stuff is too big for me to wear." He shrugged.

"So all your stuff is custom?" Walker asked.

"Most of it." Yatsuhashi replied.

"I'm sorry. At least you get to swim with us now." Walker said. Yatsuhashi nodded and Walker nodded back before running towards the pool and front flipping into it near JNPR, startling them as his body collided with the water. Blake and them smiled at his childish nature, this was possibly the first time since they've met him that he's been this carefree at the moment, it truly brought a smile to their faces. All of them knew what it was like to battle the locust but they only had to do it one night as opposed to him having to fight them nearly everyday.

"I wonder how he did it." Blake wondered, making the others look at her.

"Did what?" Yang asked.

"Fought them and is still going." Blake answered.

"Yeah. I don't know he did it either, he must have a good drive in order to fight like how he did last week and keep going." Coco said. All of them agreed with her and sat on nearby benches just enjoying the day. After all, this was the last days they'd actually be kids and not soldiers.

"Blake! Get your ass in the pool!" She heard Walker shout at her. She rolled her eyes and smiled lightly before getting up and running towards the pool at a steady speed before jumping high into the air and landing next to him.

"Got to enjoy the little things." He whispered as Blake began to tread in the water next to him, a smile on her face and on his as well.

.

.

.

"Got to enjoy the little things."

* * *

 **AN: Well that's a wrap for this chapter everyone! Thanks for sticking with this story if you've been here from the beginning or just dropping by, I appreciate that I've been able to capture your interest. Now I usually don't go into politics because A: That's just not my cup of tea and I prefer to discuss it with my friends and co-workers and B: Some people just don't feel like talking about it when they read a fanfiction. I typically don't like inputting it into my stories but this matter actually concerns me. Net Neutrality. Now bear with me here, it concerns me greatly because not only will ISP (Internet Service Providers) be able to throttle and downright block some sites, not sure if this site is included, but it also pisses me off to no end that they decide who gets the best internet speed. For me, most of the shit I go on such as Youtube, Hulu, and even Netflix suffers from this, not to mention Google. I usually get a lot of ideas from those sources and me having to pay a fee just to use them, or not being able to get on them in general actually creates a huge block in my road for ideas. No ideas means no fanfiction, no fanfiction means no content, no content means I feel like a disappointment as an author for you guys, and when I feel like a disappointment... I usually just shut down for a while, a few months to a year to be exact. I'm not saying you guys have to start a huge ass debate in the review section but just discuss it with each other when you read about it. I honestly don't want to start something with you guys about this whole ordeal because in all honesty, I just write for fun and when I start something it doesn't end well for both parties. Anyways, stay classy and I'll catch you guys on the flip side. Take it easy.**


	11. Chapter 11: Basic training part 1

**AN: Welcome back everyone! Hope you all are having a wonderful time this holiday season, because yet again I'm not but who the fuck cares at the moment. I don't have much to complain about this time but I do have reviews to discuss so let's get into them shall we?**

 **XCOMHEAVY12: Well damn, once again you never cease to amaze me with these reviews. As for the boot camp, I'll try my best to make it some of the hardest shit they've ever gone through but no guarantees honestly. As for the rolls, I was thinking Ruby would be a sniper more than a scout but as time passed I could see her as one in the future. Blake would definitely be a scout, Yang would most likely go into infantry, Ren would fall into the group with Ruby, Nora as you said would most likely be in EOD due to her experience with explosives, Pyrrha I don't know about a drill instructor, Weiss yes as an officer, and finally Jaune... he might be tough to figure out. Oh who am I kidding, I'm spoiling it for you; just read the chapter man. Anyways, thanks for the long review and fucking finally someone knows a lot more about Brute than me. Keep me posted on your story too.**

 **jkdelta38: Fret not dear reader because it is here. Thanks for reviewing too, appreciate the comment.**

 **Digital Ph33rFan: Who knows if they die or not, only time will tell. Thanks for reviewing.**

 **Tony538: And more you shall receive.**

 **Now that the reviews are out of the way... let's roll on with the fucking story!**

* * *

The dorm rooms were dark and quiet as time passed and gave off a peaceful early morning vibe. Everyone slept soundly as the hour reached six o'clock and there was suddenly a loud noise that vibrated from their scrolls, jolting them awake and making them hastily look around. Their scroll continued to emit a loud noise and made most of them try to shut it off but to no avail, it continued to make the noise before stopping and a message appeared.

 _"Get your asses in gear and hurry to the amphitheater. You got twenty-five minutes grub food."_ The message read. RWBY, JNPR, CFVY, and CRDL all groaned when they knew it was Walker who was sending the message, the question was how he managed to send it to all of them. All the transfer students looked out of their rooms quizzically and saw the four teams heading towards the auditorium for the briefing.

"What's going on?" Nebula asked tiredly.

"First day of training." Yang yawned.

"Why the hell are we training this early in the morning?" May muttered.

"I don't know. Why did you call my sister a hussy?" Yang asked with narrowed eyes. May blanked a little bit when she realized that the best hand-to-hand fighter in the school was the older sister to Ruby... shit.

"Guys I think we should head over there." Jaune said.

"Vomit boy's right. We should head there but don't think this is over between you and me. We've got a lot of 'catching up' to do." Yang said to May while cracking her knuckles. The rest of the walk was surrounded in silence as they got there past the time that was stated in the message. Once each one entered the amphitheater and took a seat the lights came on to reveal Ozpin, Glynda, and Walker; the final one crossing his arms while tapping his fingers. Due to the lights being dim, his figure looked imposing due to the helmet lights glowing their unblinking gaze as he stared at each and every one of them.

"Good morning children. I hope that little message was enough to make you all aware that your advance training class begins at this time." Ozpin said. The transfer students blanked when he said their training began at this early in the morning, who in their right mind would want something like this to begin this early. Glynda nodded when he nodded to her and she stepped up with a slight sigh, clearly tired as everyone else except Walker and Ozpin.

"Yes, due to the new threat that are more dangerous than the Grimm themselves, you all have been selected to be trained by a professional. Walker please make yourself known." She said. Every single person in the room jaws dropped except the Beacon students. He was their professional?!

"This is bullshit!" Nolan shouted making everybody look at him, Glynda was about to scold him but Walker stuck his hand out and shook his head before walking up to the microphone and tapped it a few times, creating a loud thumping noise.

"How is it bullshit Mr. Porfirio? Is it because it's by the likes of me that you don't like? Or the fact that I whooped your ass in front of all your friends?" He asked calmly and just stared at Nolan.

"I-" Nolan began but stopped when Walker interrupted him.

"This isn't the time for you to make a smart ass comment. This is the time where you all listen to me." He said to him then to all in the room. "When you are with me, I will not tolerate any disrespect or I'll have all your asses on a fucking pike! In my classroom you are nothing but piles of dog shit underneath my boot until you prove you're more than that! Under my command you will treat the person next to you like family because that's what they are on the battlefield, and so help me god if you leave your brother or sister I'll make it to where your mother fucking swallowed! Do I make myself clear?!" He shouted forcefully, making them all go stiff.

"Yes sir!" They responded.

"Now get your asses to the training grounds!" He commanded, making every single one of them scramble out the door and rush to the training grounds. Ozpin let out a light laugh as Glynda just rubbed her forehead.

"Try not to break them." She sighed.

"Can't do that Ms. Goodwitch. They need to be broken down in order to be built stronger, little insecurities are flaws on the battlefield. If they can take a little shouting and insults then they can take on anything." He said and followed his students out the door.

"Did we make a mistake sir?" She asked, turning to Ozpin.

"Not one bit Glynda. He knows more about the locust then we do, plus he's been through more obstacles than them and managed to overcome them. So if anybody is going to train them right, it's him." He said.

"I hope you're right." She sighed and began to walk towards her class since she still had some. Oum knows those children will probably want to have a class that didn't shatter them.

* * *

Walker entered the training grounds and scowled when he saw everybody sitting down or leaning on a wall, this did not fucking fly with him once so ever. He would have been beaten to a pulp if he was caught doing this.

"Did I fucking say you could sit down?!" He shouted at them. Each one stood up quickly and stared at him as he walked right in front of them while looking at each one fiercely.

"S-so what are we doing today Walker?" Jaune asked nervously, this was the first time he's seen Walker yell and personally it was a little scary.

"You all are going to go through the basics, now stand in a straight line or I'll shove my boot so far up your ass I'm kicking teeth!" He commanded. All the students stood in a straight line and looked forward when he commanded them to, not daring to disobey him.

"I wanted you all here twenty minutes ago. So what was the hold up?" He asked, looking at Coco.

"We weren't taking this seriously." She answered.

"Not taking it serious eh? Did you all think I was fucking kidding when I said I'd go hard on you?!" He shouted.

"No sir!" They all replied.

"Apparently so since you all wanted to take your sweet ass time. So for every minute you aren't here and kicking then that's another minute of pure hell I'm putting on the clock." He said, making them all groan. "I never asked for your input you fucking wasteful skin sacks! Now shut your fucking gobs!" He shouted. They all clamped their mouths shut as he marched by them and looked at them with a stern gaze. Out of the corner of his eye he heard someone whisper something making him look in their general area.

"Who said that? Who the fuck said that?! Which one of you little cock-sucking two timing shitbags said that?!" He shouted. No one bothered to say a thing making him scowl. "So it was the fairy fucking godmother who said it huh? Was it you pretty boy?" He asked and pulled on Scarlet's collar, making his eyes widen a bit.

"It was me sir." Nolan said from the edge of the line.

"Well what have we got here? A fucking whisperer? Private hipster, I admire your honesty. So much I'd let you come to my house and fuck my sister." Walker said. May tried to stifle a laugh and eventually let out a small giggle but immediately regretted it when Walker stood in front of her and glared at her.

"Something funny private tramp stamp?" Walker asked.

"N-no sir." She said quietly.

"Speak up!" He shouted.

"No sir!" She shouted back. All the air left her lungs as Walker hit her in the stomach. Now he would normally feel like shit for hitting a woman but they needed to learn their place here, they were his students and he'd rather break them down before letting them die by his hands.

"I got your name! I got your ass! You will run by the numbers or so help me God I'll rip your head off and shit down your neck! Get up!" He commanded. She shakily got up with tears in her eyes before standing up straight, this is what she signed up for? It was barely even the first day and she could barely handle a couple of insults. He walked towards the middle of the room and looked at them all, scanning to see which ones he needed to work with first. Sun, Nolan, May, Jaune, Gwen and Cardin. Those six were the ones he needed to work on the most.

"Out in the halls of beacon I am your fellow classmate and friend but inside my class I am your mentor and adviser who will prepare you for the war ahead! In here, there will be no racism, bullying, betrayal, fighting except when training, or flirting! You all came to train to fight the grubs and become the sentinels of Remnant against the locust horde and I'll be damned if I have some newbies dying out there before I can train them to at least put a dent in that fucking horde! Do I make myself clear?!" He asked.

"Sir yes sir!" They responded in unison. The rest of the time was filled with insults and slurs that made each one of them break down, even Ren almost shed a tear when he was addressed; although he knew Walker was doing this to toughen them up he still couldn't help but feel a little hurt. This is the kind of training he had to go through?

"Good! That's all for the first day, tomorrow I want you all here on time or we're going to be doing PT for the next two hours instead of one!" He said, making them all nod their heads quickly. "Dismissed!" He said, making them all scramble out. He went over to his desk and sat down in it, resting his head in his forearms. They should be considered lucky he's not even going half way, only half the yelling is needed to get them going. They wasted twenty minutes of his time because they didn't want to take this seriously, habits like those would get people killed. He looked at his watch and saw that it was seven-ten and he sighed a bit before getting up and going outside to breath in the crisp morning air; the sun had begun to rise and met his eyes a bit. There was a sudden shout that made him look to his right to see Blake yelling at Sun, with the boy looking a bit crestfallen when Blake said something and marched away. Sun began to pace around in a circle before stopping when Walker suddenly appeared out of nowhere and stood with his arms crossed.

"Oh hey Walker. How're you?" He chuckled nervously.

"Fine. Care to explain why Blake looks so angry this early in the morning?" Walker said.

"Well... I just apologized to her again but she didn't seem to buy it." Sun said.

"That's probably because she's still mad about you throwing your negative opinions my way all those months ago. If I know Blake, she's not one to let something go." Walker said and began to walk with Sun towards the dorm rooms.

"Yeah, we uh noticed when we chased Torchwick." Sun said.

"Then why did you try to get on her good side this early if you know she's still going to hold a grudge?" Walker asked.

"I don't know." Sun sighed.

"Or it's because you have a massive crush on her and she doesn't return the feelings." Walker stated.

"W-what?! That's not it!" Sun exclaimed.

"Yes it is. She told me about it and asked for advice on how to tell you off without you becoming a depressing walking talking tower of shit." Walker said.

"Did you really have to call me that?" Sun said dejectedly. Walker scowled a bit before smacking him upside the back of the head and muttering something. Sun yelped in surprise and rubbed the back of his head to rid it of the slight pain.

"Jesus Christ, you and Jaune have that bullshit bad. So what if a girl isn't into you, just move on. There's literally numerous women in the world." Walker said.

"Yeah but-" Sun said.

"Butts are for shitting. Point is Sun, move the fuck on. She's clearly not interested in you so stop bothering her so much, it hinders her learning because she's stressed and it disrupts my sleep because I have to talk with her all night until she goes to sleep." Walker deadpanned.

"Oh." Sun said, not realizing he was that much of a bother in her life.

"Yeah. I'm not saying don't talk to her, no. I'm saying stop trying to flirt with her because she's close to snapping and it's starting to break her a bit." Walker said.

"Got it..." Sun said then went quiet for a minute.

"You need advice don't you?" Walker sighed.

"Yeah, how do I get a girl to like me then?" Sun asked.

"Be yourself, if that doesn't work then start improving... and for god's sake put a fucking shirt on man." Walker said as he entered his dorm, leaving Sun in the hallway looking at himself. Right, he needs to wear a shirt more often.

* * *

Blake stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her body, looking in the mirror. There were a few red streaks on the side of her face from rubbing tears away when Walker insulted them all, she knew with all her heart that he needed to break them down to toughen them up and make each one stronger. She had seen it during some of the White Fang drill sergeants would harp on the recruits. A sigh escaped her lips as she dropped her towel and put on her panties, jumping when the bathroom door opened and she whirled around to see Walker standing there before going slack. Both stood there for a second before her face flushed red and she covered her bare chest while he averted his gaze.

"Oh shit, I'm sorry." He apologized.

"I-it's okay. My fault for not locking the door." She said with a red face.

"I'll uh... just go now." He said.

"Thank you." She replied as he closed the door. It was locked as she then covered her face with her hands and screamed in them. This is possibly the most embarrassing moment for her in her entire life, since she was a little girl. The rest of the clothes were put on hastily and she did her hair before walking out and saw Walker looking reading one of his books. To her knowledge it was about a gunslinger and a boy heading to a tower, but her knowledge was limited since she tried reading a few pages but didn't understand a single page.

"So uh... how often are you going to yell at us?" She asked sheepishly, trying to shake the bathroom mishap.

"Every single day until you all are tough enough not to give a shit what people say about you and become grub killers." Walker said, not even being bothered at what happened a few minutes ago.

"Grub killer? I thought we were supposed to be 'Remnant's Sentinels?" She asked.

"I just made that bullshit up. Point is Blake, I'm training you all to become killers. But with morals." He said, closing his book and walking towards the bathroom.

"So we're going to become a type of mercenary?" She asked.

"Hell no, now they're good in situations but half of them I don't trust. I'm training you all to become soldiers in the upcoming war, tough ones at that." He said and went into the bathroom. She heard the door lock and heard the shower turn on before Walker shouted a string of curses when the water was ice cold. Leaving without another word, she left him to get ready for the day while thinking about their further training and sighed. When she got to the cafeteria she came across a peculiar sight, Cardin and his team were apologizing to Velvet and her team before sitting a couple of tables away while the transfer students sat near the three teams. The lunch room was filled with chatter and laughter until Walker walked in and everyone snapped to attention, making him raise an eyebrow.

"The fuck are you all doing?" He asked.

"Standing at attention." Ciel said.

"Jesus Christ." Walker sighed. "Okay, let's clear this up before we have any misunderstandings here. Out here, I am your fellow student and friend but in my class I'm your mentor. But don't think that I'll act like a pushover when out here. You can sit down now." He said and walked over to the lunch line, grabbing his usual and walking back to sit next to the girls. He clicked the side of his helmet and let out the compressed air with a sharp hiss before lifting it and eating. The transfer students gaped a bit when the barely managed to see his mouth and wondered what he actually looked like underneath; the Beacon students just brushed it off since they've already seen him do it countless times.

"So you never take off your helmet?" Gwen asked.

"Only when I take a shower, sometimes if I'm feeling depressed I leave it on." He answered. She blinked a bit before mumbling something.

"What's so special about it?" May asked.

"Built in air filtration system, recording system, radio, Tac-com, data storage, and keeps my head protected from pretty much anything." He said.

"Even a sniper round?" She asked.

"Yeah." He shrugged.

"How many times have you been shot to prove it?" Arslan asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Lost count after forty." He said making everyone at the table screech to a halt.

"Oum Walker, how many times have you been shot?!" Jaune asked.

"Ones that actually hit or shot at?" He asked.

"Both!" Pretty much everyone said at once.

"Let's see... hell if I know. The latest one is on my shoulder from a sniper." He said nonchalantly.

"Can we see it?" Yang asked.

"I guess." He shrugged and took off his blazer, then later his shirt. Once his shirt was off he trailed his finger alongside his shoulder until he reached the last sniper wound before he died, the flesh around that area was scarred which made him widen his eyes at how lucky he was that he didn't bleed out from it. All the transfer students dropped their jaws at the sight of so many scars on one body, Nebula covered her mouth when she saw one near his heart and questioned how he even survived that.

"How the hell did you even survive all of this?" Brawnz asked.

"Had a good medic. Heaven could wait because there was still work for me in hell." Walker answered while putting his clothes back on. His scroll beeped numerous times and he looked at it for a second before tapping on something and a dull hum could be heard from it. There was a beeping noise before he put the scroll away and sighed a bit.

"What is it?" Ruby asked.

"Ozpin wants me to report to his office after breakfast, in other words now." He said.

"What's it about?" She asked.

"A mission." He sighed.

"Why are you so upset about a mission from the headmaster? Those are like the biggest and best." Neon said, swaying her tail back and forth a bit.

"Nothing I haven't done before. Just a little extermination." He said.

"Extermination?" Sun asked.

"Multiple locust have been located in an old abandoned warehouse and I've been tasked with killing them." Walker replied.

"You don't seem to be bothered by the fact that you're going to kill something." Nolan said.

"As I said before nothing I haven't done before. As far as I'm concerned a couple locust is just child's play. I'll see you all this afternoon." Walker said and began to head to Ozpin's office. The girls just shrugged and began to eat again with the rest of the Beacon students while the transfers blinked in surprise.

"Wait! How is a couple of those things child's play?!" Arslan exclaimed.

"I mean, he's faced worse." Ruby shrugged.

"Yeah and trust me on this. He's really good at killing them, so much that him and I are going to make a bet to see how many he can kill by the end of the week." Yang said.

"Yang! Walker's life is in danger and you're making bets?!" Weiss said.

"Oh come on Ice queen. You and I know Walker's capable of taking care of himself. After all, he got us out of the fairgrounds alive." Yang said. Weiss calmed down when she thought of that horrible night, so much blood and destruction in a place meant for peace and joy. If Walker hadn't been there to guide them out then none of them would have made it so why was she so worried all of a sudden?

"I guess you're right." She sighed. Yang gave a smirk and finished her food before standing up and walking with the rest of them to their classes for the day.

* * *

The afternoon came and everyone had finished their classes for the day. Goodwitch's seemed a bit more relaxed than usual but they just assumed it was because Walker started training them and she didn't want to stress them anymore than what was needed. The girls were walking back to the dorm with their books in their hands.

"Hey do you think Walker's okay?" Ruby asked.

"Yep." Yang said.

"Are you sure? Because he's been gone longer than he said." Ruby replied.

"I'm sure he's fine Ruby. He would text us if he wasn't." Weiss said.

"Yeah, plus he's relieving some stress on the locust rather than us." Blake commented.

"How is he relieving stress?" Ruby asked.

"At least I think he is. He was put in charge of training over thirty of us to fight an old enemy that plagues his dreams." Blake shrugged.

"Wow Blake, that was very observant of you. Do you watch Walker in his sleep? Have little dreams about you and him on a prairie with a couple of kids?" Yang teased.

"W-what?! No! I mean-" Blake stuttered with a red face. Yang burst out laughing and entered the room to see everything the way it was. She threw herself on the bed and stretched out before getting underneath the covers and getting ready to take a nap. Her scroll along with the other three buzzed and she let out a groan of frustration, then pouted when she saw a text from Walker saying to meet all of them outside.

"Uhhh! I just want to take a nap!" Yang whined.

"Quit whining Yang. He said we need to be out there so let's get out there." Blake sighed.

"Technically we don't have to be out there. We could just-" She started but was interrupted when she received a text from Walker.

 _"That means you Yang. If you don't then I'll tell everyone that you sleep with a pillow that has that movie actor on it."_ He wrote. She immediately sprung to her feet and bolted out the door leaving the other three confused as to why she left the room so quickly. They shook their heads and exited the room in a slightly fast pace to reach the bullhead docks in due time to avoid another barrage of insults from him; despite him saying the most hurtful things they've ever heard they knew he did it to toughen them up. The walk there took five minutes and when they arrived team JNPR and CFVY were already there waiting for the bullhead to arrive.

"You guys got the text too?" Jaune asked them.

"Yep. I think everyone did." Ruby said, looking around to see the transfer students coming, albeit slowly. Once they all got there they looked around to see nothing then groaned in annoyance.

"Why the hell are we even out here if he's not here?" Octavia complained.

"Because I don't want him to shout at us more than what he has to. Plus we aren't doing anything." Nebula answered.

"I get that he's training us but is the shouting really necessary?" Dew asked.

"Yes, drill sergeants usually emotionally and mentally strain the trainees to break them down and build them back up." Ciel answered. Checking her watch and letting out a tiny sigh of frustration, where was he? The bullhead was supposed to arrive three minutes ago yet here they are waiting. They were about to leave but then heard the sound of a bullhead arriving and watched as it roughly landed on the ground, slightly smoking. The bay doors opened to reveal a blood stained Walker casually walk out while hauling a bag behind him, throwing it on the ground then going back to get a few more.

"Yo Walker. What's all this?" Flynt asked, adjusting his shades.

"Weapons I looted off the dead grubs." He said while hauling yet another bag off the ship.

"You loot the dead? That's kind of... shitty." Sage commented.

"Does it look like I care Sage? If not then start helping the others take the weapons back to the training grounds." Walker said. He hauled the sixteenth bag off the ship and saw that everyone was still standing there. "Now!" He ordered, making most of them hastily grab a bag and shakily take it to the training grounds. He grumbled underneath his breath and grabbed a Mulcher and hand it to Coco, who stared at it with interest.

"You can coddle it later, now get moving." Walker said making her nod and head towards the training grounds. Yatsuhashi walked up and caught a One-Shot when Walker tossed it to him and followed Coco while Fox settled for a couple of Lancers. Velvet walked up and grabbed a few Gnasher shotguns while he grabbed his Lancer and sawed-off shotgun and another Mulcher before closing the bullhead bay door. He and Velvet walked side by side in silence before she decided to speak up.

"Sooooo." She said awkwardly.

"You wanted to thank me about dealing with Cardin and forming a better relationship with the other two teams didn't you?" He asked, almost as if he had been reading her mind.

"Yeah." She mumbled.

"You're welcome." He replied, twisting his neck and cracking it loudly.

"Ugh, that's nasty." She shuddered at the painful sound.

"To you yes. To me? No." He mused.

"I mean, how do you even crack it that loud?" She asked.

"Years of doing it out of boredom. It's a nasty habit you don't want." He advised.

"Noted." She said then went silent for a minute before she noticed his arm was bleeding slowly, making her eyes widen. "Oh my goodness! You're bleeding!" She exclaimed. He looked to the side and noticed that he was indeed bleeding but gave no indication that he was in pain.

"Eh." He shrugged.

"You don't feel it?" She asked.

"Not really. Pain is like a routine, you get used after a while." He said and opened the door for her. She nodded and entered to see all the weapon bags on the ground while the students stood around. Walker just walked over and dropped the bag before gesturing that they all could leave and everyone left except Blake. She looked at his arm and frowned when she saw the bullet wound that was slowly bleeding, sighing when he didn't even show any signs of discomfort.

"Walker sit down." She said.

"Why?" He grunted, hefting a bag over his shoulder and placing it near a storage unit.

"You're hurt." She answered.

"That's irrelevant. I'm fine Blake." He said and moved another bag to the storage unit.

"You're not fine Walker. You're losing blood and there's no telling how much you've lost since you've been gone." She said.

"Look, I appreciate your concern but I'm fine. I'll just patch it up later." He said. He kept loading bags until he felt himself wrapped up in her ribbon and thrown onto the ground, not even trying to resist due to the adrenaline in his system starting to wear off from the firefight earlier. She tied him up tightly and left the room for a few minutes before later appearing with a med-kit in her hands and opened it, applying some disinfectant to clean the wound of blood, dirt, and whatever else he was covered in.

"You can't keep going out alone." She said, wiping away some blood.

"Yes I can. Until you all are ready, which won't be for at least a month or two, I'm doing my missions solo." He replied, twiddling his thumbs.

"We've fought them before Walker. I'm pretty sure we're ready." She said.

"Because I made up a plan on the spot and it so happened to work out. What happens if I'm not around? Then what?" He asked. She went silent for a while before answering.

"Then we find a way to move on. Besides, the locust don't know what'll hit them when you're done training us." She said while wrapping his arm in gauze. He let out a small laugh before his expression turned serious, he may have not been fighting the war all seventeen years but he still knew some of the hardships others faced when it was their first time. They went in with Blake's determination and Ruby's bubbly personality to save the world only to come back haunted and terrified of what they had just encountered, that's why he had doubts. He knew the people of Remnant would fight for their survival and had all these crazy powers and shit but what of their experiences of true bloody battle that could whisk your life away in a split second?

"There, that should get you through until you go to the infirmary later." She said.

"Why don't you ever go into the medical field?" He asked, standing up.

"Not my forte. I've always been a scout mostly, medical knowledge is something the White Fang members had to know." She shrugged.

"At least you're able to dress a wound. Even if it's a Jerry rigged." He complemented.

"Thank you. Someone has to patch Yang up when she gets done fighting." She replied.

"Isn't that what the nurses are for?" He asked while walking towards a Mulcher that was left out and stored it.

"They're always busy tending to CRDL after Pyrrha finishes with them... why do you have so many weapons?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The weapons are for you all to shoot and the Mulcher here is for when I shoot at you guys tomorrow." He said.

"Ha ha. Very funny." She laughed sarcastically.

"Who said I was kidding?" He asked. Her expression fell flat when she heard that and backed away.

"No Walker. That thing will rip us to shreds." She said.

"Then you all better hope you're good at taking cover because I'm not going to stop until it runs empty." He said. She looked at him with narrowed eyes before widening them when he grabbed the Mulcher and aimed it at her, making her rush out of the room while he was left laughing. He shook his head and set down the Mulcher before walking out of the training area and towards the cafeteria to get dinner and turn in for the night.

* * *

Everyone's clocks beeped and woke them up groggily, most of them muttering profanities while doing so. They all got up and walked towards the training area, then broke out into a dead sprint when they realized they had a few minutes left before they were late. Each one of them managed to make it on time and saw Walker there while looking at his watch then at them.

"Wow, you all managed to make it on time. I guess you all aren't completely worthless after all." He mused, making them shrink and some growl. "Now since you all are on time we can finally get started. Head over to the obstacle course outside and we'll begin." He instructed. Everyone made their way to the obstacle course and then stood in a straight line as he looked at each one of them then at the obstacle course and typed something on his scroll.

"What are we doing today sir?" Ciel asked.

"I'm glad you asked you uptight time cop. Today you all are going to run through this here obstacle course and reach the end." He said.

"That's it? Sounds easy." Yang grinned.

"While I'm shooting at you with this here Mulcher." He said, walking over to a stand with a tarp over it and ripped it off reveal a mounted Mulcher with plenty of ammo at the side. All of them blanked at the sight of the huge crank gun and shrunk down when Walker laughed darkly and ordered them to line up.

"H-hey Yang?" Ruby asked nervously.

"Yeah?" She asked back.

"You think Walker enjoys doing this?" Ruby asked fearfully. Yang looked at Walker and noticed that his fingers were getting twitchy, which symbolized that he was ready to unleash a torrent of bullets at them.

"Yeah, just a little bit. No pressure right?" Yang smiled nervously.

"GO!" Walker shouted and made them run. He had soaked the ground before them with water and had placed barbed wire, fallen logs, sand bags, and even what looked like a body in front of them on the ground. As they ran, he started to turn the crank on the side and fired bullets at them which made a few of them yelp when the ground before them kicked up and splashed their faces with mud. When they got to a giant wall and were forced to climb over it Walker went behind them and started firing Hammerburst rounds at them, knocking Nolan and Jaune off when one struck near their hands and made them fall in the mud. Some of them tried to use their semblance to propel themselves forward but were quickly knocked down a peg when Walker shot in front of them and made them fall back down. After a while they finally had completed the obstacle course and were dirty, tired, and full of pain from either falling so much.

"Well hot damn. It only took you all twenty minutes to complete an obstacle course that should have taken half that time." Walker mused.

"You were shooting at us this entire time you fucking idiot!" Octavia shouted.

"Yeah, Walker! What the fuck?!" Nolan agreed.

"You think the fucking locust will care? You think they'll care if you're tired or hurt? No, they'll take whatever chance they have to put you in the ground. Now since you want to talk shit do it again!" He ordered, making them groan. "I mean all of you! One person fucks up, you all fuck up!" He shouted. All of their jaws dropped at the punishment and begrudgingly marched back to the start while Walker disappeared for a minute and later appeared with a turret made out of four Lancers.

"Walker! What the hell?!" Sun shouted.

"Shut up! You all wanted to talk shit, now this is your punishment! Get to stepping ladies. I ain't got all day!" He shouted and aimed it at them. They all sprinted through the obstacle course but noticed that Walker wasn't actively avoiding them, he was actually aiming at them. Octavia and Nolan realized how much she had screwed everybody when the people in front were being shot at deliberately and were forced to take cover as the Lancer rounds impacted the cover. Everyone had to wait for Walker to stop firing to reload and took this opportunity to move to the next set of cover before staying there when more rounds bounced off or tore through the cover. When they reached the wall they stayed at the cover for a bit longer until he ran out of ammo and switched to the Mulcher, while he was doing that some of them took the opportunity to scale the cover the fastest they could and finished the obstacle course. Others were trying to figure out a way to get past the torrent of bullets and decided to wait it out but later widened their eyes when a grenade landed next to them.

"Oh shit! Move!" Sun shouted and jumped to the side as it exploded. His hearing turned to ringing and he looked to see everyone rub their eyes fiercely. He flew to the side and landed on the ground in pain as did the others before they heard a whistle.

"Ruby, Blake, Jaune, Pyrrha, Flynt, Coco, Nebula, Fox, Neptune and Ren. You all passed the obstacle course in the time given, therefore you can sit here and watch the others suffer." Walker announced, making the select few quickly rush up to him while wiping mud off themselves. They saw him walk back with an ammo box and blanked when they saw more ammunition being fed to the turret and Mulcher.

"Walker I understand you want to train us but this is brutal. We can't do it." Neptune said making Walker stop dead in his tracks. He walked in front of Neptune and just stared at him.

"What did you just say?" He asked.

"I said we can't do it." Neptune said. This proved to be a big mistake on Neptune's part when he doubled over in pain.

"I don't know the words 'I can't do it'! If you shit stains couldn't do it then you would have never passed that test at your academies! If you couldn't do it then you would have died going through initiation! So you had better rethink your words before you utter that bullshit sentence again Neptune!" Walker shouted as he loaded the Mulcher again. He ordered the rest of them to do it again while firing at them with pinpoint accuracy, before everyone got there he had loaded the magazines with rubber rounds so he wouldn't kill them but make them think twice about trying talk shit or even slack off. This time had gone better and everyone else was on the ground and groaning in pain while catching their breaths.

"Get up. We still have thirty minutes left. The only easy day was yesterday shit lickers." He said making each one of them groan loudly then clamp their mouths shut when Walker added another ten minutes.

* * *

 **One month later:**

Every single person sort of regretted being in Beacon at the moment ever since Walker became their teacher. Not only was he brutal and harsh but he also made them think critically. While they regretted having him as a teacher they were also thankful he was, because not only had their grades and combat improved but each team grew closer and closer together. CRDL was no longer a bunch of racist people but some tolerable people to hang around when they didn't have their egos cloud their minds, Neptune and Sun had stopped hitting on Weiss and Blake, and everyone had finally gained Walker's respect. Despite them continuously complaining of having to get up early in the morning they all had begun to set a timed internal clock, which not only gave them more time to mentally prepare for his class but also the day. He still yelled at them and broke them down but smirked when they would pick themselves up right after and come back stronger. Summer and Tai had come to visit Ruby and Yang and were taken aback at how much they had improved on their combat skills, Tai had continuously informed Yang not to rely so much on her semblance but failed in the end and smiled widely when she wasn't anymore. Summer had cheered when she realized Ruby could fight without her weapon and could hold out for a while too. They didn't realize that Walker was training them until Ozpin had informed them and wanted to see how he was training them. Needless to say they were taken aback once again at how brutal he was and saw that every single one of the students he was teaching fought hard, tactical, and efficient; to the point where they were already licensed huntsman waiting to receive their certificate.

They had invited Walker and the girls to dinner but decided to stay in the kitchen area of the newly refurbished dorm house. He had cooked them a couple of burgers with the help of Yang and Ruby while Blake and Weiss helped with a cheesecake. The rest of the teams decided to spend their time in the safe part of town where the locust hadn't destroyed and see if there was anything to do. The time in the kitchen was spent telling jokes, discussing their training schedule, and about each other's pasts. It was fun until Tai got up to answer the door and saw Glynda there, they discussed something for a minute before she handed him something and walked out.

"What was that?" Walker asked.

"Uh, Glynda gave me something. Said to put it on the T.V." Tai said.

"Put it on I guess." Walker shrugged and put his feet on the coffee table.

"Walker, feet." Weiss said.

"Yes, ma'am." He grumbled and set his feet back on the ground. Everyone else laughed as Tai put the disk in the DVD player and turned on the T.V, before sitting down next to Summer while Walker just sat in front of the couch on the ground.

 **(Camera feed on)**

 **The video started with Walker looking through a truck in the passenger seat, it was dark outside and the road ahead was almost pitch black. He stared ahead for a few minutes before looking to his left and seeing a dark skinned man with black armor on, despite it being put through hell and back it still looked to be in pristine condition. His face was hardened and had a scar going from the right side of his face to his mouth. The black helmet he adorned sat snugly on the console as the two sat in silence.**

Walker's knuckles tightened the longer he stared at the video, how long had it been since he's seen his dad's face? Even if it was through a video.

"Who is that?" Ruby asked.

"My dad." Walker answered.

"What?" She asked a bit shocked. She was about to ask another question but was silenced by the video.

 **"Hey dad?" Walker asked, sounding like he was only fifteen.**

 **"Yeah kiddo?" Richard asked back, his gaze softening when he looked at his son.**

 **"Do you ever think this war will end?" Walker asked.**

 **"God I hope so... not just for you but for your mother and Ajay as well. Speaking of those two, how are they?" Richard asked.**

 **"Mom's doing fine, a little frustrated that we had to leave and Ajay is still causing chaos." Walker said, leaning back.**

 **"Heh, still the little shit. Just like you." Richard chuckled.**

 **"Hey, I take high offence to that. Plus I learned to be such a shit after you." Walker said cheekily.**

 **"Fucking smartass." Richard smirked at Walker while slapping the side of his head playfully. There was static on the radio and Richard leaned to listen to it better before scoffing and turning it off.**

 **"What was that about?" Walker asked.**

 **"Hell if I know. Damn thing had been on the fritz since I got this hunk of shit." Richard sighed.**

 **"Maybe I can fix it." Walker offered.**

 **"Nah, I'm about to have it scrapped as parts for the Sovereign." Richard dismissed.**

 **"Oh come on dad, I'm good at fixing things." Walker said.**

 **"That's mainly because you jerry rig half the shit to make it seem like it was like that in the first place." Richard said.**

 **"Okay, to be fair I usually do that so I can buy more time." Walker said.**

 **"Like that time you broke my favorite power drill and jerry rigged the shit out of it to make it seem like nothing was wrong with it?" Richard asked while looking at Walker from the corner of his eye.**

 **"Yeah... something like that." Walker mumbled and shrunk down into his seat. His father chuckled and turned in on an old looking gas station before getting out with Walker close behind. They continued to exchange jokes as they walked to the compound.**

"That's your dad?" Yang asked, finally getting to see what his father looks like. From the looks of it, him and his father seemed to have a close relationship with how friendly their jokes and jabs were at each other. Making it seem like each one had kept each other safe in their darkest times.

"Yeah, was a great man too." He said, not bothering to turn to her and kept his focus on the screen.

"Was?" Blake asked. All of the noticed that he didn't bother answering back and just kept his attention glued on the screen, as if he would forget something if he looked away from it.

 **Walker and his father entered the gas station and looked around for a minute before his dad found a canister of fuel and began to empty it into the old looking truck while Walker kept watch. It was quiet for a minute before both heard something and aimed their Lancers at the spot where the noise originated from.**

 **"Walker... get in the truck." Richard instructed. Without even questioning his father he got in the truck but still kept his weapon trained on the spot while his dad backed away cautiously and got in the truck also, putting it in drive and taking off. Neither one decided to question what that noise was and just left it as something that shouldn't be discussed. A few minutes of silence passed before they heard shouting and Walker looked in the rear view mirror to see headlights.**

 **"Dad." Walker said.**

 **"I know. Be ready to fight them when they attack." Richard said, speeding up to try and avoid the fight but knew it was bound to happen. They were carrying supplies and were in violent stranded territory for god's sake, what did he expect to happen? The shouting got louder until two vehicles pulled up the side of the supply truck and stared at Walker and his father. Inside were stranded that looked insane and had psychotic expressions on their faces while wearing a type of war paint. Richard looked at Walker then grabbed his helmet and put it on, making a hum resonate through the air as his porthole lights came on.**

 **"Now?" Walker asked.**

 **"Now." Richard said. Once he said that Walker opened up the door and jumped out, latching onto the stranded's vehicle and hanging on tightly. He equipped his knife and punched the window out before shoving his knife in the stranded's windpipe and hauling him out the door, watching as his body tumbled in the road. His attention was turned to the psycho in the passenger seat and he the roof of the vehicle and kicked the insane stranded out of the door with both of his feet before he quickly took a hold of the wheel and drove next to his dad.**

Everyone recoiled when they saw Walker kill two men in cold blood and hijack the vehicle, they knew he killed but this... this was going past the line. Each one of them scooted away from him while he gave no reaction and continued to stare at the screen.

"I thought you only killed locust?" Tai asked suspiciously.

"I never said I did. Not everyone on Sera were friendly, as you can tell." Walker said as his emotion started to drip away from his voice, something Tai and Summer hated hearing. When they first experienced this they were taken aback at how cold he sounded but upon later research found out that this was his voice when he was extremely focused or was losing himself to the darker side of him, in other words it made him unpredictable.

"So who are these people?" Blake asked, going on the ground and sitting next to him.

"Raiders. Stranded and COG who form a group of psychotic cult and have devotion to one person or leader and do anything to keep themselves alive. Going from raping, murdering, and even eating other people to get what they want." He explained, making them reel back in shock.

"People did that?!" Weiss asked.

"Yeah, numerous. They were the only people I killed without feeling pity. Talking doesn't even phase them because usually their talks are made of bullets and knives." He answered stoically. Everyone noticed how emotionless his voice sounded at this point and decided to refrain from asking questions since it seemed to be triggering something.

 **"Walker! Get rid of them!" Richard shouted from the driver's seat. He gave a curt nod and drove around to the left side of the supply truck to see a group of raiders shooting the side of the truck with pistols and crashed into the back of their vehicle. The man on the back fell off and Walker ran him over, feeling a small bump as his body tumbled under, and watched as the raider truck slowed down to address him. The woman on the passenger's side aimed her pistol at him and laughed crazily before firing it, making him duck underneath the rounds. He cursed a series of profanities and rammed his vehicle against theirs and knocked it off the side of the road and into a tree, wincing when he heard and explosion and looked back to see their vehicle on fire.**

 **"Good job kiddo. Now get in here." Richard said over the radio. Walker drove to the passenger side of the supply truck and found a heave object and set it on the accelerator, waiting a second before the vehicle got up to the supply truck and jumped out. He latched onto a railing and opened the door to climb inside, he saw his dad take his helmet off and give a smirk while he shot a thumbs up.**

 **"You think that's the last of them?" Walker asked.**

 **"Hell no. If there is anything to learn about these psychos, is that they always have more waiting." Richard said. Walker nodded and kept himself ready in case there was any more raiders. His fathers suspicions were confirmed when they heard more yelling and turned to see an assault derrick coming down the hill.**

 **"Are you fucking serious?!" Walker shouted.**

 **"Yeah, get ready because I'm coming with you." Richard said and placed his helmet back on his head once again. The assault derrick barreled through trees and eventually drove next to them. There was crazed hollering and hooting as the raiders laughed and began to jump on the vehicle, they aimed their weapons inside but later looked to see no one inside. Walker gave a loud whistle and waved at them as he held up a detonator, the seven who were on the supply truck threw off the covers and widened their eyes when they saw pounds of explosives primed and ready. They heard roaring ahead and saw a locust stronghold and put two and two together but were too late when the truck crashed in the stronghold and walker clicked on the detonator.**

 **"Tch, assholes would have realized that this was a moving bomb if they looked at the back." Walker deadpanned and began to climb the side of the derrick and ducked underneath a fist. He parried a kick and caught the arm of a raider and delivered a swift fist to his elbow, snapping the arm and making the raider scream in pain before he suddenly felt his body thrown off the edge and tumble against the ground. He rolled to the side as retro lancer rounds impacted the ground below him and took cover behind a crate, the firing stopped when they had to reload and a loud shout was heard. He peeked over and saw his dad charge the nearest raider and pick him up before throwing him into another raider. He swiftly ducked underneath a pipe and punched the raider in the stomach before grabbing her head and smashing it against the railing, creating a loud crack and attached a grenade to her dead body. It exploded and painted the ground below him in a shower of blood and gore while also blinding he three raiders in the process. He jumped in the middle and blocked a wide punch from one raider and slashed his stomach and throat with his combat knife before kicking the body away and side stepping a leg. He grabbed the leg and threw it upwards, making the raider land on his back before he twisted it and snapped the bone. The raider screamed in agony before it was silenced when Richard stomped on his face and crushed his head. As he was doing that the third jumped through the air he suddenly went limp when Walker pulled out a snub pistol and shot him in the face.**

 **"Damn, thanks kiddo." Richard breathed. He went to the controls of the assault derrick and began to steer it towards the harbor where the sovereign was going to be and started to say something to Walker but stopped.**

 **"Dad? Dad what is it-" Walker stopped when he saw a big raider have a sword in his hand and have it shoved through his father's stomach. He yanked the sword out and shoved his father into the middle of the derrick before hopping down and looking at Walker.**

Everyone, except Walker, gasped and covered their mouths when they saw Walker's father shakily look down to see a sword in his back before he was roughly thrown aside like a rag doll. Summer and Tai stared wide eyed as his body fell while the girls gasped and looked at Walker, seeing him shaking in either sorrow or rage, they couldn't tell. They all realized as to why he didn't like talking about his dad, because he was dead. Maybe his mother too since he always avoided the topic.

"Walker?" Blake asked quietly. He said nothing and got up, walking to his room and slamming the door loudly. The video was paused and everyone just sat there in silence while staring at the screen, his father's body just lied there motionlessly while Walker stared at it.

"Should... should we continue?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know, I mean this is a big thing." Weiss said quietly. While her mother was usually drowning herself in alcohol and never there while her father was an oppressive dictator, she doesn't know what it's like to lose a parent. Because she still has both of hers, Yang and Ruby too. Blake was kind of a mystery since she never talked about hers but mentioned that both were still alive.

"I... I just want to watch what happens to his father in the end. Maybe he's alive?" Yang asked in a hopeful voice but the looks she was receiving wasn't reassuring her. They played the video and watched as Walker literally became a tornado of death and destruction as he pretty much destroyed everything in his path while fighting the raider leader. The fight ended with Walker cutting off the leader's legs and making him crawl towards the edge before begging for his life and ending it brutally, first breaking his jaw then later smashing his head into a mushy paste with his fists. Ruby had to cover her eyes at the last part as did Yang while the rest just watched in fear as Walker's brutality seemed to worsen, maybe this was a sign that his mental state was beginning to deteriorate. After the fight they watched as Walker knelt down to his dad's bleeding out form and him trying to desperately keep him alive.

 **"Walker... stop..." Richard slurred.**

 **"No! Okay, just listen. Kelly will be here in a few minutes and s-she'll fix you." Walker said desperately. He pressed his hand on the stab wound and did all he could to stop the bleeding. There was just so much blood!**

 **"It's alright. You mad at me kiddo? ..." Richard asked tiredly.**

 **"No! Why would I be mad at you?! I just want you to stay alive!" Walker said as he fumbled around in his pocket and found a gauze and wrapped it around his father's wound, frowning when the blood just stained it.**

 **"Son... it's alright... I was getting old anyways." Richard laughed then coughed out blood. Walker was still finding a way to stop the bleeding and tried to keep his dad's attention on him. He stopped when Richard grabbed his hand and made him look him in the eyes.**

 **"Dad just-" Walker tried but stopped when Richard shook his head and handed him his COG tags.**

 **"Walker... I'm so proud of you... almost grown and already trying to save the world... that's the kind of man I want looking after his family when he's grown... take care of your mother and brother for me..." Richard whispered.**

 **"Take care of them with me dad. I'm getting you out of here!" Walker shook his shoulders.**

 **"No, you're not kiddo... I've done all I can... now it's time for you to do yours... meet a woman... have a kid or two... be the best man you can be..." Richard whispered quietly before his grip on Walker loosened and his hand slapped the ground under them with a quiet thump. Walker's lip quivered horribly before he started to sob quietly and then gradually got louder and louder. After a few minutes of sobbing he heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Kelly and Fred standing there.**

 **"Walker? Walker what's wrong?" She asked stepping closer. This was the first time she's seen him cry since his encounter with Skorge. As she got closer her breath hitched when she saw his father lying there motionless in his son's arms.**

 **"Alright, kid. Just... let's get you out of here." She said slowly.**

 **"No! You have to fix him, see?! Just tell me you can do something?!" Walker said desperately, as if she were some miracle worker. She gave a sad look and shook her head as he just blinked some more and started to sob more.**

 **"Fred, we need to get him out of here. The grubs and psychos are coming and Nash and Amelia are waiting near the docks." She said. Walker practically flew into a wave of hysteria after she said that.**

 **"No! We need to bring his body so you can fix it! He'll be better by tomorrow, like he always is! Just do something goddammit!" He breathed. Fred walked over and grabbed Richard's body while Kelly led him off the derrick and into an Armadillo APC while Fred loaded Richard's body.**

"Oh Oum..." Summer said as she witnessed Walker's reaction. Her and everyone else had tears in their eyes as he just sat there staring at his father's body while sobbing. This was the first time they've heard him cry and frankly, none of them like it. It wasn't a cry like you had been hurt and would brush it off later, it was one that would inflict a deep wound on the mind and give little reminders that it would forever haunt you. The video ended and the screen went black as they all just sat there in the silence. None of them dared to utter a word as time passed from minutes to an hour just thinking about what had transpired. The TV turned on and they gave it its full attention but jumped and yelped when a knife flew from behind them and implanted itself in it, making it spark and sputter before falling over. They all turned to see Walker standing there with his arm outstretched and make his way over to the fallen TV before lifting it up and yanking his knife out.

"Walker?" Blake called out. He stopped and glanced at her before saying nothing and walking back to his room. All of them looked at each other and stood up to go to his room and tried to open it but found it locked. Summer knocked on the door a few times and waited for an answer but there was none. They all waited for a minute before the girls left and did their activities for the weekend while Tai and Summer still stood there.

"Kid, they're gone now." Tai said. No answer came and they waited for a few more minutes and were about to leave but stopped when the door cracked open and they heard the bed creak. Both stepped in and saw Walker lying down on the bed while staring out the window, the moon seemed to bounce off his helmet and gave off a tiny amount of light in the room. Tai had closed the door and locked it before sitting on the edge of the bed with Summer as they looked at Walker, who didn't even give a reaction to acknowledge that they were there.

"Walker... are you okay?" Summer asked.

"No. I just witnessed my father's death again after I had just barely gotten over it." He said quietly and continued to stare out the window. Summer and Tai looked at each other and scooted closer.

"Look, we may not know what it's like to lose someone that's close to you but we've experienced loss." Tai said.

"Still doesn't help me feel any better. I came to terms that my dad is dead and finally got over it since he died two years ago but seeing that horrible night again brought up a fucking terrible memory that made me feel depressed again." Walker mumbled.

"I know, but Glynda and Ozpin wanted us to see it and help you through it." Summer said.

"Why the hell are they even showing everybody? See, this is why I don't show people shit because of reasons like these. I show or tell them something and they feel like it's all their business to tell everyone. We all find out Walker's parents are dead?! Let's tell the whole fucking world!" He exclaimed, sitting up and raising his arms in the air. Both of them moved back a bit when he stood up and punched the wall, leaving a giant indent in it.

"Wait, parents?" Summer said.

"Yeah. Both my parents died in front of my eyes. You have any idea how that feels? To see their lives slip away from them as you can do nothing but fucking watch? I literally had to break my little brother's heart when I told him that they weren't coming back, I damn near killed myself the moment my mom turned to ash in front of my arms!" He shouted. He breathed heavily for a second as he stared at them while they just stared back before he went in front of the bed and slumped down on the ground, turning away from them and clicking the side of his helmet. The compressed air hissed and he took off his helmet before setting it to the side and staring at the dark floor.

"Kid, your helmet." Tai pointed.

"I know..." Walker murmured and just sat on the ground. A variety of emotions boiled up inside him as he sat on the ground, every single ounce of him just wanted to lie down and be alone but he couldn't make them get out. There was a small part that wanted them to stay and try to move on from the deaths of the people he swore he would look after. Summer and Tai moved closer to him but stopped when he started to laugh sadly and pulled out a picture of his parents, him, and Ajay on the deck of a ship.

"Well mom, dad. You always told me to be careful because you two didn't want to lose me... so why weren't you guys careful?" He asked sadly. There was a toothy grin plastered on his face but tears leaked from his eyes the longer he stared at the picture. This was one of the few times where the people of the Sovereign didn't have to scavenge for food, supplies, or clean water to drink and weren't being attacked by the locust or lambent. All they had was relax and enjoy those little peaceful times that were rare.

"Oh my Oum." Summer said and sat next to Walker, noticing him wipe away some tears and put his helmet back on. Tai did the same and the two just pulled him into a group hug while he just sat there as more tears leaked down his face, it had been a while since he had received something like this.

"Kid, we came because Glynda said you we were some of the only people to help. Walker, while we came to see the girls progression we also came to help you get over your parent's death." She said.

"I don't need to get over them." He countered.

"Yes you do Walker. Not only is your mental state deteriorating at an alarming rate, it's also starting to show when you fight. Yang said on numerous occasions you would come back even more bloody than your previous missions and it's beginning to scare her and the girls. Walker... you're beginning to lose yourself." Tai said.

"That's not true." Walker mumbled.

"Yes it is. Ruby said numerous times that you aren't sleeping, get angry at the smallest things, and even start laughing for no reason. She said you aren't yourself when you laugh, you sounded broken and insane." Tai said.

"I'm fine. I just go through episodes when something doesn't go my way." Walker said. Summer perked up a bit when he said that.

"What kind of episodes?" She asked.

"I sometimes have episodes that Skorge is in front of me when I fight the locust. It helps me cope." He said.

"By pretending you're returning the pain." She summarized. Walker nodded and sighed when he realized that maybe they are right. Maybe he needs mental help if he's going to get through this war. But... he was just so tired of it tall. The killing, the loss, the mental and emotional pain, the countless failures.

"I guess I do need help." He sighed quietly.

"That's why we're here kid. Despite Glynda being a strict teacher, she knows when a student is suffering and does her damnedest to help them. She didn't do this out of shits and giggles, she did this because she cares about you. Same as everyone else you're friends with." Tai explained.

"Right. Walker, you not only managed to help my girls at fighting but you've kept them alive and made them stronger than what they already are. You've brought Ruby out of her shell, made Yang stop using her semblance so much, helped Blake openly admit she's a faunus, and even made Weiss stand up to her father. Not to mention the other students respect you after they realized what they're up against and that you were willing to get up early, sacrifice your free time, and everything else to teach them for the obstacles ahead. They look up to you Walker and care about your well being but they can't help you if you keep shutting them out." She said. Tai agreed and watched as Walker hugged his knees and sighed slowly, raising his head and climbing on the bed.

"I guess I'll talk to someone." He said.

"That's all we're asking." Tai said.

"Okay, can you guys leave for the night? I'm kind of tired." Walker asked.

"Yeah." Summer said and began to walk to the door with Tai in tow but stopped when Walker spoke up again.

"And tell everyone outside the room they're running ten laps around the entire training grounds for trying to eavesdrop on this _tender_ moment." He said flatly. Both of them blinked and opened the door quickly to see everyone there with their ears against the walls. They all fell on each other and looked up sheepishly to see Summer and Tai standing there while Walker was on the bed staring at the ceiling.

"Laps?" Yang smiled nervously.

"Around the entire training grounds." Tai chuckled making them all groan.

"That sucks." Neon mumbled.

"Twenty since you all want to complain." Walker said from the room, making all of them clamp their mouth shut.

"You mind if we join?" Tai asked.

"Don't see why not." Walker said.

"Great, we got some exercises they can do." Tai said making all their eyes widen.

"Dad, shut up! Walker, no he doesn't!" Yang shouted and desperately tried to convince Walker to change his mind before he gave a thumbs up and closed the door in her face. She blinked a bit before glaring at Tai while he just gave a toothy grin and brushed past them, while Summer looked at Ruby and wiggled her eyebrows, making her blush in response.

"I sometimes really hate being here." Octavia muttered.

"How do you think we feel? He used to sleep in the room with us." Weiss said flatly. All of them sighed and went downstairs to watch TV but later groaned loudly and threw curses when they saw it on the ground sparking with a huge hole in it. Not knowing Walker had a small smile on his face as he picked up a remote and turned on the TV of his own while the others suffered without one.

* * *

 **AN: Been a while huh? About that I'm sorry that I've been uploading a single story so much and seemed to neglect this one but fear not dear readers, I have come back with a long chapter for you all to read that I have written. So about the training, it's a little... underwhelming and I have a perfectly good reason for that. I absolutely fucking suck at describing how a drill sergeant treats his recruits, even after watching FMJ. Though fear not, my father is giving me some pointers on how his drill sergeant was when he was in basic, and let me tell you he was fucking scary by the sounds of it. A marine who served in Vietnam? Those are some tough dudes, but enough about that. Next chapter will be more in depth of their training and have someone special, so until the next time. Remember the golden rule about reviews, happy holidays, and I'll catch you on the flip side. Take it easy everyone.**


	12. Chapter 12: Basic training finale

Summer and Tai were sound asleep in the guest bedroom while their bodies were pressed against one another. It was around six in the morning before a loud noise echoed from the hallway and a chorus of loud groans and curses groggily woke them up. Tai thought it was a dream before knocking could be heard and he sleepily walked up to the door to see Yang there in her work out gear.

"Yang? What're you doing up this early in the morning?" He asked.

"Getting ready for training." She yawned.

"This is how early you all train?" He asked again.

"Yeah. You two might want to hurry up before Walker gets mad at us." She said and began to shuffle towards the training grounds. He yawned and walked back to the bed and started to shake Summer gently then started to do it more forcibly when she wasn't even waking up.

"Go away Tai." She mumbled tiredly.

"Can't Summer, we have to get up to train with the kids." He said. After he said this she acted like a little kid and started to flail around in the sheets before huffing and finally getting up while muttering a string of curses while Tai just chuckled at his wife's childish nature. They got dressed and began to follow the students to the designated spot where they saw Walker already there with his combat attire on while staring at his scroll before he put it in his pocket and looked at them then at his watch.

"Well hot damn kiddos. You are on time again, bra-fucking-vo. Now before we begin our laps because you little nosy fuckers decided to eavesdrop, say hi to Tai and Summer." He gestured towards the two adults. Everyone waved or muttered hi before stretching for their laps and then standing in a straight line while keeping a straight face as Walker passed by each one of them and then started sprinting on the track as everyone else did the same.

 **(** **The U.S. Army Airborne - Rock Steady)**

"One, Two, Three, Four hey!

One, Two, Three, Four hey!

Here we go!

Here we go!

On the move!

In the groove!

In the groove!

Here we go!

All the way!

Every day!

Huuuh... Ha Ha!

Huuuh... Ha Ha!

Rock me, rock me, rock, rock steady!

Roll me, roll me, roll me ready!

We're gonna rock (rock)

All night long, we're gonna roll (roll)

Till the break of dawn, we're gonna swing it (swing it)

Till we wanna go home, we're gonna shake it (shake it)

Till the twilight zone, we're gonna rock (rock)

Roll

Get

Stay

Ready!

Ready!

We are ready!

I said we are ready, ready, ready!

Shake, rattle and roll everybody!

Shake, rattle and roll everybody!

Huuuh... Ha Ha!

Huuuh... Ha Ha!

Here we go!

Here we go!

Here we go!

Here we go!

Left right lay-o!

Left right lay-o!

Your DI says lay-o!

At a double time!

Say left right lay-o!

Whole lotta lay-o!

Your DI says lay-o!

At a double time!" He sang loudly as they ran the laps while they copied him after ever line he sang. Summer and Tai were surprised at how synchronized all of them were as they sang the song with him, when they looked at each of the student's faces they saw the exhaustion fade away from their systems as they focused on the song rather than their stamina. On their final lap though, nothing was said as they all saw Walker speed up immensely and struggled to even catch up to him as his speed was greater than theirs. A lot of them started to fall behind and he noticed this.

"Double time it shit bags or we're doing this again!" He shouted over his shoulder which made every single one of them pump their legs faster than what they were capable of. Even Summer and Tai struggled a bit at the speed at which Walker was running at. Once they all finished most of them were winded and placed their hands on their knees to get oxygen in their lungs.

"Is that the training?" Tai breathed.

"Not even close. We still have shooting, the obstacle course, swimming, and paintball. In the last one your objective is to kill me, mine is to kill you first." Walker stated. All of them raised an eyebrow at the weird training schedule today and looked at Walker.

"Those paintball bullets, they hurt?" Neptune asked.

* * *

Neptune aimed his rifle through an open window at a sniper tower before a paintball hit him smack dead in the goggles with a loud splat.

"Ah shit! Fuck, I can't see!" He shouted in pain as he knelt down and took cover while trying to clear his goggles. The others scrambled behind various forms of covers as Walker fired his rifle at anyone in the open.

"Back to the grunts Blue Balls!" He shouted from the sniper tower and fired at Jaune, who had tried to advance but was forced to go back into cover. Tai and Summer were in other sniper towers and just watched as Walker shot at them from it, they laughed when Ruby tried to use her semblance to get a bead on him then gave a loud girlish squeal when he intercepted her and managed to hit her foot. The paintball lasted for another twenty minutes before Walker's watched beeped a few times and he gave a signal for them to stop. They all lined up and every single one of them were either covered in paint from getting hit or were covered in dirt and scrapes from the area around them, but overall they did exceptionally well for almost hitting him.

"Despite the fact that none of you scum bags managed to hit me, you did surprisingly well. Now onto the reports." He said, making them groan. "Stow that shit. Ruby, you need to stop using your semblance so much if you want to get the drop on the enemy. Weiss, you also. Blake, if you stick in the shadows too much then the enemy will start looking there also, so try and be on the front lines more, Yang... stop getting angry so quick or they'll take advantage of it. Jaune, start taking cover more often and start planning on where you'll go next; I see you're having trouble figuring that out. Nora, you're in the category with Jaune. Pyrrha, when you see a teammate in trouble then be their sword for when they can't defend themselves, and Ren, you need to do more stamina training if you want to keep being quick on your feet." He explained then turned to the others.

"Cardin, Russel, Dove and Sky. You four can't rely on your melee weapons too much or else you'll never pass this training, start practicing with your firearms more often. Coco, you need to move around more often but if you are going to remain where you are then have someone watch your six or else you'll be dead before you can do any good. Fox, Yatsuhashi, and Velvet you three are improving so nothing to report as of now. Sun and Neptune, if you two are going to rush forward then start coming up with a plan to distract your opponent while one of you attacks in their blind spot; Sage and Scarlet, you two need to help them out more or they'll end up dying. Nebula, start using a weapon in which you can reload faster, it's fine that you love the one you have right now but the reload speed on that is going to get you killed. Octavia, start using a firearm to kill your foes, Dew as should you. Gwen, you need to start getting out there with your team, if your current attire is going to hinder your efficiency that much then I suggest you change it and find another way to store your knives. Arslan, you're in the same category as the CRDL. Bolin you too. Reese, if you're going to use your pistols as your main firearm then stick to middle to close range, and Nadir. Start practicing with your aim. The first three members of BRNZ start using firearms while May, you need to start finding blind spots if you're going to continue your sniper training. Penny and Ciel... keep doing what you're doing. Flynt, start learning to make your clones do more than just attack, and Neon-" Walker started.

"Yeah?!" She asked in her excited voice.

"First, don't fucking interrupt me. Second, stop skating around the battlefield or you'll end up getting shot by the enemy or your teammates." He said, making her nod. "That's the report, I know they fucking suck but it keeps everything in check. You all can get your smelly asses cleaned, dismissed." He added and they just sent curt nods and walked back to their dorms. Tai and Summer were once again taken aback at how respectful and disciplined they were when in his presence.

"Wow, that's the most serious I've ever seen Yang when somebody pointed out her flaws." Tai commented.

"They realize that they can't afford to not listen to me. If I don't point out their flaws and make them correct them then they know the cost." He said.

"Do you really have to curse at them that much?" Summer asked, feeling a little uncomfortable at his jabs towards them.

"Unfortunately yes. Not everyone will see them as their saviors and will do everything they can to antagonize them, I'm doing this so they don't care about what others say so long as they know who they are." He replied.

"That's more than what others are willing to do." Tai said.

"Yeah, whelp I'm going to get cleaned up then prepare everyone's final." Walker said.

"Wait, final?" Tai asked.

"Yeah, they already are way past my expectations and just need to get over those flaws before they graduate. So if you want to be here for the ceremony then I advise you come by in two weeks." Walker said.

"Alright, thanks for the heads up. What will the final be though?" Summer asked.

"Taking them on a mission with me, a simple extermination to be exact. And before you two get in that mode think about this, I'm not always going to be there with them when they get sent on missions so if they can pass this then they'll pass the future battles." He explained, slightly calming them down. Both nodded and began to walk with him as he walked back to the dorm room while spinning a certain black cog tag in his right hand. The trip back was silent aside from the sound of the chain swinging until it stopped and they noticed that they were in front of his dorm room, he knocked a few times and saw Ruby peek her head out of the door.

"Are you guys dressed?" He asked.

"Um, not really. Yang's in the shower right now and Blake still has to then we'll be good." She said.

"Alright, come get me when you are." He said and began walking towards his room, which had its own personal shower. On the way he noticed Tai and Summer say something before walking off to their room, probably to either get more sleep or pack to go back home. He opened the door to his room and closed it before going to the bathroom and locking the door. He entered the shower and turned on the warm water and began to scrub his body for a minute, after seven minutes of washing himself he turned the water off and stepped out of the shower and staring in the mirror. His face had small stubble on it and he sighed at the thought of needing to shave soon, something he dreaded doing at times but found it necessary. He put his pants and helmet on and stepped out into the room to see the rest of his uniform on his bed from last night. There was a knock on his door and he sighed out of the corner of his mouth.

"It's open." He said. The door cracked open and he Resee's voice come from the door.

"Uh... sir?" She asked nervously.

"What'd I tell you all about calling me that when I'm not training you all?" He asked.

"Not to." She answered.

"Then cut that shit. What'd you need?" He asked, putting on his blazer.

"We got a message on our scrolls saying that classes have been cancelled for the day." She informed. He stopped buttoning his blazer and started to take it off before walking to his closet and hanging up.

"Why?" he asked.

"The headmaster and teachers are having a meeting and decided to cancel classes for the day. I guess it's with the council and it mandatory that they show up." She said.

"...Thanks for the heads up." He said. It was quiet for a minute and he noticed that the door hadn't shut, he looked to his left and saw that she was still there.

"And um... Arslan and Yang wanted to know if you'd be willing to practice with them." She said.

"And you waited an entire minute to tell me this why?" He asked.

"Uh..." She drawled.

"Jesus, you're worse than Ruby. Tell them I'll be there in a few minutes and also inform Weiss and Ruby to bring their asses there too." He said.

"Got it." She nodded and closed the door. He settled for a pair of black sweatpants and a black training shirt with a pair of black sports shoes. After getting dressed he walked out of his room and sent a quick message to Glynda as he walked downstairs and caught sight of Ruby, Blake, Weiss, and Jaune sitting down watching TV while the rest of them did their own activities; Reese was trying to get them to get up while they just groaned at having to get up after just sitting down. Tai and Summer were near but were looking at their scrolls and waved when the noticed him.

"Ruby, Weiss. Let's go." He said.

"But whyyyy? We were doing something." Ruby groaned like a little kid.

"You were not. I just saw you outside before bolting back in here when Reese told you, come on." He gestured.

"Ughhhhhh." She groaned and started sliding down the couch.

"Ruby..." Tai said in a warning tone.

"Fine." She pouted and started to begrudgingly rise to her feet. Weiss rolled her eyes and followed them as they walked towards the boxing area and saw Yang and Arslan on a bench while in their workout gear.

"About time Walker." Yang grinned.

"Piss off Yang. Anyways, what'd you two want to practice?" He asked.

"We want to see who can beat you first in a fist fight." Arslan stated while wrapping her hands.

"Alright. Who's going first?" He asked.

"Me." Yang cracked her knuckles while he cracked his neck and stretched a bit before climbing into the ring and getting himself ready. As soon as he nodded she shot forward and immediately put him on the defense. He ducked underneath a right hook and jumped back when she threw her leg up and slammed it down on the ground. She dashed forward and sent three quick jabs while blocking his left hand and back flipping when he sent his right knee up. He charged her faster than she could comprehend and tackled her to the ground and sent a straight towards her face but was blocked by her forearms, each hit that connected took down a portion of her aura and forced her to grab his fist and punch him in the side of the helmet, sending him sprawling towards the side. He was on his feet in an instant and bent his body back just as a kick sailed over him and quickly blocked a back hand then wrapped his arm around hers and struck her in the chest with an open palm. She flew back a few feet and used hers to skid to a stop. Both charged at each other and came to a deadlock when he sent an elbow towards her while she sent one also but both blocked it. She smirked up at him and tried to hook a leg around his but yelped in surprise when he parried it with his own leg and tripped her, but caught her by the forearm.

"Give up?" He asked.

"Not in the slightest." She smirked and used her foot to push off of him and make him stumble back. He threw a punch towards her advancing body but widened his eyes when she used it to flip over him and punch him in the back and send him flying towards the corner of the ring. At first it seemed he was down for good but he surprised her when he rolled backwards and bounced off his feet and sailed through the air. She jumped over him but didn't account him grabbing her feet and bringing her down with him, then being pinned with her arm behind her back and his wrapped around her neck. His grip on her neck tightened and she repeatedly elbowed him in the side but seemed to do little damage since he still had his arm wrapped around. A sly smirk formed across her face and she bit his arm hard but noticed he didn't even flinch.

"Yang, Ajay pulled that shit numerous times. I've grown used to bites at this point." He deadpanned.

"Was worth a shot." She struggled.

"Yeah but a futile effort in the end." He said and stood up before picking her up and slamming her on the ground. All the air left her system when she collided and she felt a knee set firmly against her chest, not enough to deprive oxygen but enough to keep her planted on the ground.

"You know you can always call it quits Xiao Long." Arslan said from the corner of the ring.

"Never! I still have one trick up my sleeve." She grinned and grabbed his shirt and headbutted him but quickly regretted it when a painful sensation shot through her head.

"In what way did you think that would work?" He asked slightly amused.

"I thought you would feel something or at least stumble back." She winced. All he did was just laugh and help her up while leading her to a nearby bench and sat her down while she held her head and winced. He walked back into the ring and stretched a bit before cracking his neck loudly, making Ruby and Weiss cringe while Arslan just shuddered at the sound of it.

"Alright, since it's only eight thirty in the morning and you all want to fight me then I guess what better way to satisfy the trainees than to beat the ever loving shit out of them." He mused and got in a boxing stance while Arslan just got in her combat stance and stood there while staring at him. She quickly soared towards him and started to throw a series of jabs, hooks, and even kicks towards him but every single one he would just dodge or parry, never attacking until she got too close. She used her string towards him but widened her eyes when he not only grabbed it but pulled her towards him and gripped her face. He lifted her off the ground and slammed her onto it, leaving her dazed for a second before she rolled out of the way and a giant indent where his fist collided made itself known; she back flipped when twice when he started throwing a low leg sweep and a high uppercut towards her. At first she thought when he was done that was all but he surprised her when he combat rolled into her and gave a low leg sweep to the back of her knees. She fell on the ground and then felt his leg slam against her chest while his other one wrapped itself around her throat and he twisted her arm awkwardly.

"Forfeit and I'll let go." He said.

"N-never." She choked out. He tightened his grip on her and then eventually let go when his scroll started to buzz, making him sigh in annoyance. As soon as he let go she sucked in a load of oxygen. That match was short but she realized why Yang looked up to him; his fighting style was quick, brutal, and efficient. Something she strives to be one day. That's why she had been training with Yang, not only was she a good fighter but she was closer to Walker than anybody else when it came to unarmed combat, and as far as she knew he was one of the best students to go against when fighting. The only thing that concerned her was the fact that he doesn't have an aura once so ever, so every hit they make on him actually harms him rather than his aura. Every single person gave him shit for the first few hours of their training but quickly realized that he wasn't someone to toy with; his training had no room for errors and his methods were brutal but everyone saw why it was like that. He had a strange past with these things and judging by the pictures, they weren't pushovers either.

"Lesson learned ladies. Yang, you can't always defeat your opponent head on, sometimes you need to learn to cut and run. Remember this quote 'He who fights and runs away, may live and fight another day'. Arslan, you can't always rely on that string of yours. Some enemies are better off dealing with from afar." He advised towards them, to which they nodded in conformation. Ruby and Weiss walked up to him when they noticed that he was going to walk out.

"Why aren't you fighting us?" Weiss asked.

"Apparently I have a video meeting with the council with the staff also. I guess it's because I'm a staff member technically." He shrugged. Ruby beamed at that and immediately went into her school girl mode.

"That is so cool! Maybe you'll be like that one cool member that doesn't take anything from anyone or that one that does whatever he wants because he's too cool for it." She started to chant while Weiss just rolled her eyes and began to carry her off as she continued to chant. Walker just shook his head and made his way back to the room and saw Jaune and Pyrrha on the couch while Ren and Nora were in the kitchen. They waved towards him and he did the same before entering his room and closing the door. He sat on the desk and plugged in a USB while typing something in the laptop and a series of tabs popped up with coding that seemed confusing to the inexperienced eye but was normal for him. He closed three of the tabs and clicked on an icon at the bottom of the desktop and waited a few seconds before a live video popped up of everyone in the council room. The staff of Beacon were the first ones to notice him but the council members were shrouded in darkness for some reason.

"Glad you could join us Walker." Ozpin greeted.

"Glad I could be here, to what do I owe the pleasure to?" Walker asked politely, already seeing a conflict beginning.

"This is the newest addition I presume?" The middle man gestured towards the screen.

"Yes, Walker Ronin is our newest teacher and is the mentor to the select individuals for the advanced training program." Ozpin stated.

"Hmm, interesting. And what is your experience with these 'locust'?" Another council member to the right asked.

"I've been dealing with them for my whole life. Fighting with them for four years, and for the years to come." Walker answered.

"So if you've known about their existence your whole life then why did you not inform the world about them?" The middle council member asked.

"I didn't know they were here until they emerged at the weapon's festival." Walker stated truthfully.

"I thought you said you've been dealing with them your entire life?" The left council man asked.

"That is true." Walker nodded.

"Then I ask again, why didn't you inform us about them?" The middle council man asked.

"Haven't been here long enough to say anything. And would any of you really have believed me if I said a race of humanoid beings from the ground below wanted to slaughter every single man, woman, and child on the face of Remnant?" Walker asked. The council went quiet and he took this as a sign to continue with the meeting, in truth he wanted it to be over because he secretly despised the council. "Now why was I informed that my presence was needed at this meeting?" He asked.

"We have a personal favor of you, should you complete it then we will provide your forces with the necessary materials and funding in the future." The middle council member said.

"What is this favor you want me to do?" Walker asked.

"My son is located in Vale at a middle school near downtown, they're on lock down and have shielded themselves downstairs as the things marched by the school. I personally would be in your debt should you get him out of there." The man said.

"I will accept but answer this question." Walker said.

"What is it?" The left council member asked.

"What else were you all discussing because I know damn well that it isn't just a personal mission." Walker said as he got closer to the screen.

"There had been terrible news... a portion of Atlas has fallen and the locust will soon take over that sector if we do not do something." Ozpin said. Walker stopped and stared at the screen for a second before sighing deeply and nodding.

"Two weeks and they will be ready. What's the death rate?" Walker asked.

"Climbing into the thousands as of now. Ironwood is deploying his forces near the border of where they had taken and hoping that he can at least take back a portion of it." The left council member said.

"If the locust just took that sector of the kingdom that fast then consider it lost." Walker said grimly.

"Surely there is something we can do!" The right council member outraged.

"No, there isn't. If they managed to do it that quickly then it's lost. Councilman, the locust aren't like Grimm; they barely know the word retreat and aren't pushovers either. They either fight until we are dead or they are, and seeing as to how they took over the sector that quickly then I assume it was a weak one, yeah?" Walker asked.

"Yes, it was the outer section, specifically the shipping area." The left council member informed.

"Fuckers are cutting off the supply train. Is there any other way to ship supplies other than that specific sector?" Walker asked.

"There is an old shipping yard but Atlas hasn't used it in years because of the frigid temperatures." The middle council member said.

"Then that may be their best bet of getting supplies. Because if they don't use that shipping yard then their supplies from other kingdoms are severely cut." Walker said.

"We will inform them, anything else?" The middle council member asked.

"Martial law must be in effect as of now. If the locust managed to make it to Atlas and take down a sector then I fear that they are beginning to make their first step into taking down the kingdom." Walker rubbed his helmet. The council went quiet as did the Beacon staff as the troubling news met their ears before Walker sighed.

"I'll be on the ground in an hour. Any specific opposition?" He asked.

"We are receiving reports of Boomers, and Therons at the border but nothing else." Port said.

"Got it. What's the RV that I'm supposed to drop the kid off at?" Walker asked.

"There is a specific bullhead drop off point near the port." The council man said.

"I assume you will send the rest of the mission details to my scroll?" Walker asked.

"We will Walker, stay safe and Oum speed." Ozpin said.

"Expect a mission report from me in the next day or so. Lieutenant out." Walker said and cut the feed. He leaned back in his chair and rubbed the top of his helmet while sighing deeply. Already a month in and it was already taking a turn for the worse, the locust are actually playing it smart this time, taking out small sections instead of sacrificing millions to take the whole thing at once. The fact that they were beginning to make their move rose some concerns but he pushed them down and began to get dressed in his combat gear. After a minute of dressing and checking everything he headed downstairs to see everyone still doing their thing but Yang and Arslan were present. Blake was the first one to notice him.

"Walker?" She asked.

"Gather around." He instructed and they all looked at each other and gathered around him. "A section of Atlas has fallen recently." He said. Every resident of Atlas felt their hearts sink when the news was broken and he had expected this.

"What part?" Weiss asked.

"Shipping depot. Near the border." He answered.

"That's the main source of supplies from other kingdoms." Flynt said.

"I know. The fuckers are cutting off the supply train, now Atlas has no choice but to use the old shipping yard in order to get their supplies." Walker said.

"But those temperatures will freeze half the products." Weiss said.

"Weiss, they don't have a choice at this point. If they don't use that yard then they'll fall." He said. It went quiet for a while before Ruby spoke up.

"What do you suppose we do?" She asked.

"You all will finish your training and then we're boots on the ground in Atlas right after. Prep your coats because we might be there for a while." He said and began to walk off.

* * *

Walker was the only occupant of the silent ride towards downtown and was checking the magazines of his weapons and sending a few last texts to his friends. The bullhead jerked slightly as it landed and he equipped his lancer and walked out as soon as the doors opened he saw the state of the section he was in, to say it was in good shape would be a lie. A few blocks away were cars and buildings on fire while some people were on the street dead.

"This just happened." He muttered and began to hastily make his way towards the school that was in sight but he could see a few locust roaming around. While going head on was the fastest way there he knew that the locust would focus on him and he would never reach the school... he would not have a repeat of _that_ mission. So going through the dark alleyways was the best option. The trek there was surprisingly fast and he reached the rear of the school but found the door locked and sighed a bit but when there was a window that was slightly cracked, probably a last ditch effort for the escaping occupant, but since there was blood splattered on it they must have not gotten far.

He quietly opened the window and entered the school before shutting the bloody window and ducked down when the breathing of a Boomer was heard. As soon as the footsteps were away he carefully walked throughout the quiet halls and looked in each classroom but remembered that they had been hold up downstairs so he started to look for a stairwell that lead downstairs. After searching around the entire school for a while he found the stairwell and noticed how dark it was, he cautiously moved down the stairwell with his flashlight raised to shed more light and was immediately taken aback by that familiar sound, one that only a Cyclops could give out.

"Shit, gotta hurry." He said and started to quicken his pace. A Theron was right in front of the door and swung it open to reveal a class of students. It was now or never.

* * *

A class of kids were currently hold up in the basement area of the school, their teacher had went out to go get help... she never made it back to them. Each one of them were scared out of their minds right now, as soon as the intercom stated those things were closing in a mass hysteria broke out and most of the school had fled to try and escape. The only class that didn't make it out was the one that was in PE due to them swimming today, their teacher had practically forced them to go into the basement area and claimed it was safe but she didn't count the fact that there was little to no service down here, it was a miracle even one of them was able to send a message to his dad about the whole situation.

"I thought your dad was sending help?!" A girl quietly shouted.

"I did, he said that someone was coming to get us." He responded nervously.

"Well they are taking their sweet time!" Another guy whispered harshly. The boy who sent the message shrunk when the others began to start complaining about the said person and were too busy arguing that they didn't notice a harsh whisper until it was right outside the door. All of them clamped their mouths shut when the disturbing growl began to get louder and then swing the door wide open. Light flooded the dark room and all of them blanked when a Cyclops stared at them before its lips curled into a cruel smile and it began to give a menacing laugh as it raised its lancer at them. They scrambled back as it stared at them while laughing before it jerked up stiffly and its arm dropped to the side, making them stare at it confused. It gave a dying gurgle as it fell to the side and they all stared at the figure that had a bloody knife in his hand. His helmet lights turned on with a dull hum and he shined his flashlight around the room, they covered their eyes before his gaze fell on a boy in a blue hoodie that had green eyes.

"You Max?" He asked gruffly.

"Yeah, who's asking?" Max asked.

"Your escort. I'm here to get you out of here." Walker replied. Everyone's eyes widened when he walked over to the light switch and flicked it, revealing his figure. The man that stood before them was considered a legend among their class, not only was he the co-captain of RWBY but he was the only person to do the Grimm challenge with limited ammo and solo also. They dug into his online bio that wasn't covered in black and found that he was one of the top students and was already receiving missions at the age of seventeen, so if Max's dad is a council member then that must mean Walker was the one to accept it.

"H-holy shit. Y-You're-" A kid stuttered.

"Walker Ronin. We can introduce ourselves later, is this all that's here?" Walker asked.

"Yeah, our teacher went to go get help but she never came back." A girl said. That must have been what the blood stain was, she tried to sneak past the locust but fell short in the end.

"Alright... let's get you kids out of here." Walker said and began to walk out of the room but stopped at the Cyclops' body and picked up the lancer, inspecting it for a second then turned to the kids. "Who knows how to use a gun?" He asked. No one raised their hands and he sighed before noticing Max tentatively raise his hand. He jumped when Walker tossed the gun in his hands and he looked at it before noticing Walker tilt his head towards the doorway.

"You're giving him a gun? But he barely even knows how to swim!" A girl exclaimed.

"What the hell does swimming have to do with shooting? It doesn't, now shut your fucking mouth and follow me." Walker said and began to lead them up the stairs while she blinked a bit before her face turned red with anger. Max beamed a bit at the thought of Sasha being put in her place for once, she had always bullied him for not knowing how to swim and constantly teased him from the start of the year; he had no idea what possessed him to raise his hand but something inside him felt right holding the gun. They were finally in the hallways and everyone stopped when Walker did and pressed the side of his helmet.

"Bullhead seven, what's your status?" He asked.

"Doing fine sir. These things haven't noticed I'm here yet but you need to hurry or they'll kill me before I can get airborne again." The pilot responded. Walker cut the radio off and began to lead the children towards the window he entered through, they were quiet but some of them cast curious glances as he lead them. He quietly exited and scanned the area before waving his hand and signalling for the rest to exit the school. A group of locust were down the street but hadn't noticed them yet, the group quickly crossed the street and into the alleyway but the last one tripped and hit the car, sounding the alarm. If the sight of the locust didn't scare the kids enough then it was the sight of them turning around quickly and the sound of their terrible voices that made them almost shit themselves.

 **"Boom!"** A boomer said as it launched a grenade at the fallen girl. She felt a hand grab the back of her shirt and was suddenly flung into the alleyway as soon as the grenade impacted the ground and made a large crevice in the ground.

"Move your asses!" Walker commanded and began to fire his lancer into the crowd of locust, killing two before ducking in the alleyway with the students. He saw a large dumpster and dragged it in the middle to block the path and stuck a grenade on it before quickly catching up to the kids and leading them again. They ran as fast as their legs could carry them and heard the sound of an explosion ring out, Walker vaulted over a car and was knocked over when a wretch burst out from the window and tackled him. The students stopped when they saw him hold its throat as its jaws snapped at him and tried to claw him but was too far. Max kicked it in the face and fired the entire lancer clip into its skull, killing it. His breathing was hard and forced as he stared at the smoking barrel of the rifle then at the dead body. Walker threw the wretch off of him and grabbed his lancer from the ground, footsteps could be heard from ahead and he looked to see the open window.

"Get inside. Now!" He ordered them. None of them disobeyed him and quickly entered the window, once the last kid was in he vaulted inside the window and closed the window then lead them to the other room just as footsteps could be heard. After a minute of waiting in the dark room he clicked the side of his helmet and began to whisper.

"Bullhead seven, are you still in the clear?" He asked.

"I had to move once the shooting started. There is a building eight blocks from your position, get there and I should be able to take off without getting taken out of the sky." The pilot said.

"Got it." He nodded and cut the feed then turned to the kids. "Change of plans kiddies, we need to travel to a building eight blocks away. Anyone know this building?" Walker asked, showing his scroll of a three story building.

"That's the stem cell research building. My mother works there." Sasha stated.

"Great because that's where our RV point is." He said.

"But the doors are locked." She said.

"We'll deal with that when the time comes. Everybody ready?" He asked.

"Um sir?" Max asked.

"What?" He asked, peeking out of the window.

"I don't have anymore ammo in the gun." Max said.

"You unloaded sixty rounds into a simple wretch?" Walker deadpanned.

"Yeah... sorry." Max said sheepishly. Walker just sighed and reached in his pocket, pulling out a spare clip and tossing it to the boy. He looked confused on how to reload it and made Walker sigh in alight annoyance.

"Swipe the lever on the side to let the clip drop, insert the new one, then pull the lever to secure the clip." He instructed. Max did so and loaded it surprisingly well for his first time holding the weapon. They all stuck to the alleyways and moved quickly, stopping every so often to wait for a patrol to pass by before moving again. After a while they finally reached an already searched part of the city and the research building but stopped when they came across the gate.

"Why the hell is it locked?!" A kid shouted, making Walker sigh in annoyance. These kids complained too damn much.

"Because you big oaf, those things might get in and take whatever notes are in there." Sasha said.

"I highly doubt that." Walker said from the side while inspecting the length of the chain.

"And how do you know?" She asked heatedly.

"This ain't my first rodeo." He replied and revved up the chainsaw, slamming it on the chain and watching it spark before cutting it in half. They all cringed at the horrible sound and jumped when Walker kicked the gate open.

"Are you insane?!" She shouted.

"I don't know, why are you asking so many fucking questions?" Walker asked sarcastically making her face heat up in anger.

"Why you-" She began.

"Oh my fucking lord, will you shut the fuck up already?! I came here to get Max and him only, so be grateful I actually decided to save your prissy ass because were it not for my high moral then I would have left each and every single one of you down there to sit and wait. By that time the grubs would have found you, killed you, then mutilate your corpse." He interrupted. Every single one of them had the color drained from their body after he said that. All she could do was let out tiny squeaks as he stared at her then turned around. The rumors of him being scary weren't kidding. He huffed and began to lead them to the roof where the bullhead was located, everyone loaded the bullhead and sat down quickly as it began to take off with the doors still open. Walker saw an empty spot near the councilman's kid and gestured for him to scoot over, to which he obliged.

"Fuck..." Walker breathed slowly and leaned back, getting comfortable in his seat. He could already feel a set of eyes on him and looked to his right to see Max staring at him.

"Uh... how long is it going to take to get to dad?" He asked.

"Around an hour give or take." Walker said and closed his eyes again but felt Max poke him in the side. "What?" He sighed.

"So uh... we never really got to tell you thanks for saving us." Max said sheepishly. All the students gave their thanks, which varied from a simple nod to hugging him, all to which he just shrugged and waved them off but sighed knowing the had questions.

"So am I allowed to keep this?" Max asked.

"No way in hell. You're dad'll probably skin my ass raw if he found out I gave you a fully loaded weapon." Walker said, making Max deflate.

"But maybe I can convince him otherwise. If I tell him that I saved your life then he'll let me keep it." He said.

"Tell you what kid, if you manage to convince him then I'll sign it for you." He laughed.

"Deal." Max nodded.

"Speaking of which..." One of the kids said making him look to see they had items that ranged from notebooks to expensive scrolls.

"Do you mind if you sign my yearbook?" A girl asked.

"Really fucking hate being a celebrity as of right now." He muttered and grabbed the book.

* * *

The bullhead landed with a loud thump at a certain area of the city. This was considered a safe zone to many who had lost their homes in the middle and towards the other end while also getting a look at the locust for the first time. Routinely patrols, a set curfew of 10:00 was in effect, reinforced walls were built, and huntsman acted as guards. Despite the rich being in the safe zone, there were also poor residents living there also. The council came to a conclusion that if they left the poor out to fend for themselves then they'll be seen as discriminatory towards the less fortunate and possibly never receive assistance from the other kingdoms. A mass amount of the horde seemed to withdraw from Vale and began to focus on slowly taking down the military run kingdom. Figuring that if the primary military kingdom was out of the picture then the others would be easier due to the lack of troops that would be stationed out there. A slow but very well thought out plan that required a vast amount of knowledge of the kingdoms, something only two locust were capable of.

The children filed walked out of the bullhead and looked around for their select families before spotting them and running to them. Walker watched as each kid had at least one parent that was glad their child was safe and cracked a smile when he saw even Sasha sob like a baby when her parents ran to her. The pilot walked by and patted his shoulder as he walked towards his wife and kids, leaving Walker leaning on the side of the opening. Eventually Max walked up with a triumphant grin on his face and a man in a business suit was behind him.

"Let me guess. He managed to convince you to let him keep the gun." Walker said.

"Somehow yes. Aside from that, I am deeply in your debt Lieutenant." The man thanked and held his hand out to shake his hand. Walker took the hand in a firm grip and shook it, though both men quickly regretted it when some of the residents of the safe zone began to take pictures of the two.

"I hate the fucking media." Walker cursed quietly.

"Believe you me, I do too. But let's just get to the capitol building and they'll have no choice but to wait outside." The councilman said.

"Alright, then let's get there." Walker nodded and began to walk with the councilman. He had decided to hold onto Max's gun and flicked the safety on to avoid any unnecessary comments and conflict about a child holding a gun, as the two men walked and had a conversation the media was taking pictures of the two walking. Most of it was unnecessary and he just assumed that some people just wanted to use it as blackmail possibly, couldn't be too sure. After a brief walk they entered the building to see the Beacon staff near the entrance, they exchanged a few words with the council and parted ways before noticing him.

"Glad to see you safe Walker." Ozpin greeted.

"Glad to be safe sir, are we headed back to Beacon?" Walker asked.

"Indeed we are, thank's to your deed the council has agreed to fund your training further and awaits the results of your trainees." Ozpin said. Walker nodded and turned to the lead councilman and Max.

"A pleasure to meet you both. Remember that this isn't a toy kid, when you use it it's only to protect your family. Got it?" He asked towards the smaller kid.

"Got it." Max saluted and gave Walker a fist bump.

"Lieutenant, a pleasure." The councilman said.

"Likewise, I will have have my students in Atlas in three weeks." Walker said and shook the councilman's hand before following the Beacon staff outside, to which the media took more pictures of. They eventually made it to the bullhead and shut the door as Walker dusted the seat off and sat down.

"I'll say it once and I'll say it again. I fucking hate the media." He said and lied down on the cushioned seat.

"Walker, language!" Glynda reprimanded.

"Fucking hell." Walker cursed again, making her fume while the others had to stifle a chuckle.

* * *

 **Two weeks later:**

To say that the students were nervous was an understatement. In truth they were fucking terrified. Not only was it their final for Walker's training but also they were being put in a real combat situation and had the possibility of dying in action. Walker stood up as they clutched their weapons tightly and gave nervous smiles at each other in hope of calming each other down, it didn't work in the slightest.

"Alright!" He shouted over the loud noise of the bullhead, and their attention was brought to him immediately. "You all are going through the final phase of your training! Each one of you trained hard, tirelessly, and determined to make a dent in this fucking horde! I don't see disrespectful pieces of dog shit underneath my boot anymore! I see trained men and women of Beacon academy and the protegees of Walker Ronin! No longer are you kids that will sit by and do nothing but grown men and women who will do their damnedest to save as many people of Remnant as you can while getting rid of this plague of nightmares we know as the locust horde! I am the machine! And you are my Gears of war!" He shouted, making them beam up at his speech.

"Oorah!" They all shouted in unison and held their weapons with confidence. Their primary weapons consisted of the ones Walker handed them while their personal weapons acted as secondaries. The bullhead hovered a few meters in the air and they leaped out of it, rolling on the ground and taking up their respective positions while scanning the area. Despite them knowing Walker wasn't going with them on this mission, they anticipated that he would do this; it was just like their initiation at Beacon and the transfer students' respective schools. He watched as his students spread out and began to go in different directions to maximize the the ground they could cover, smirking when Each leader began to bark specific orders. The bullhead doors closed and he sat back while looking through a tablet at each of the students, already feeling proud when RWBY, JNPR, and NDGO encountered locust and dealt with them swiftly and lethally. He was the machine of war, and they were the gears that kept him running.

* * *

RWBY had just dealt with their second group of locust and saw that they were near the designated target, a surplus of ammunition and fuel for the bullheads. While Walker said that this was an extermination, he also stated that should they come across anything useful that could benefit the fight against the horde then tag it for future pickup.

"Yang, cover the main entrance, you know what to do should one get too close. Weiss, cover me while I tag these supplies, and Blake, provide over watch in that corner over there. Should any of them get in our blind spots then you know what to do." Ruby said. All three of them nodded and took up their selective positions as she started to tag each box of ammunition and barrel of fuel. Despite her being childish most of the time, she couldn't help but feel proud that she had grown up a bit when training with Walker, it really made her feel like an adult rather than a kid in most people's eyes. After completing their objective they decided to check in with everybody else to see if they needed any assistance.

"JNPR, do you need assistance?" Ruby said over her scroll.

"Not really Ruby. Just cleaning up here." Jaune said over gunfire, there was an explosion in the background before it went quiet. "Thanks for asking though, you find anything?" He asked.

"Just some ammunition and fuel." She replied.

"Alright, we found a few crates of food that should do good in the future." He said.

"We're going to see if anybody needs assistance then rendezvous at the bullhead dock." She said.

"Copy that, should you or anybody else need assistance, we're nearby." He said and cut the feed. She sighed and sent an open message to the channel saying that they were on standby should any team need assistance. Most of the replies she had received were negative and stated that they had their side covered and were almost complete with it. After another hour of waiting and standing at guard they all began to rendezvous at the bullhead dock and wait for its arrival, after a minute of waiting it finally landed and they saw Walker standing at the entrance, but had blood on his attire and weapons, indicating that he was busy also.

"Report." He said and the team leaders stepped up.

"Team RWBY has managed to eliminate the locust and tag ammunition and fuel for future pickup." She said and stepped back, then Jaune walked up.

"Team JNPR has eliminated the hostile presence and recovered a surplus of food crates that should be beneficial for the future." He said and stepped back as Cardin walked up.

"Team CRDL eliminated the locust and secured this section of the sector with the help from Team CFVY." He reported and stepped back. Coco walked up and took off her shades to address him.

"We have managed to eliminate the hostiles with CRDL." She reported. Sun, Nebula, Arslan, Penny and Brawnz stepped up.

"We have eliminated the hostile presence and uncovered hidden medical supplies that should be able to treat the wounded near the safe zone." Penny reported, gesturing towards the five teams. Walker looked at all of them and gave a curt nod before gesturing them to get aboard the bullhead. As they sat down on the seats, they felt all the adrenaline from the brutal initiation start to wear off and they suddenly felt sluggish.

"Despite me being around your age and younger, I have to admit I'm proud. You passed." He said, making them look at him. It took a few seconds for them to comprehend what he said but when they did it felt good to say that every single one of them had celebrated through cheers. Almost two months of pure hellish training, a lot of tears, and a few punches but they somehow made it to the end and accomplished it, they were finally gears in his eyes. He had broken them down to pieces but had rebuilt them better than their original selves, brought out their insecurities and banished them, and made them respectable people that would do their best to help the world as they could. Granted, he also stated that they wouldn't always be fighting locust, but they were fighting Grimm and other people as well; not everyone was going to see them as heroes. Sometimes you needed to be the bad guy to get the job done.

"What's next?" Nebula asked.

"You all get ready for your graduation ceremony tomorrow then we are heading to Atlas to assist them." He said, tapping his scroll and tinkering with his watch.

"Finally able to help out there." Flynt said.

"Yep, but know this everyone. When we get there, our job isn't to console every family that lost someone or even make friends. It's to do our job and push back the locust enough so that Atlas can get the necessary footing it needs to take back the kingdom. We're acting as the crutch as of now. Clear?" He asked.

"Yes sir." The replied in unison and sat back in their seats as the adrenaline finally left their systems and they fell asleep, they weren't kids anymore. They were huntsman and gears. In his eyes that was enough, if they died before they could make a dent then he didn't train them hard enough but if they made it to the end of this war... then he did at least one good thing in his life.

* * *

 **The next day:**

Despite normal classes running their schedule the students couldn't help but feel excited. At the end of their classes was their ceremony in the amphitheater where they would receive their certificates for graduating the class, then their huntsman and huntresses license. Although they would technically be graduating early and be doing licensed missions they still had to report back to Beacon, due to their headquarters being located on campus. Glynda watched as Cardin and Jaune fought each other with brutal efficiency and looked back at the results from the start of the year compared to now. Both boys had always taken the offense and never stuck to any defense, but now seeing them actually do both in a display such as this truly did make her pride as a teacher beam. At the start Winchester displayed nothing but arrogance towards everyone and would always act as the top dog but ever since Walker took him under his wing and showed him that there was no top dog he's dropped that certain attitude. Jaune's combat scores increased dramatically and he wasn't that shy dorky knight, well he was still dorky but he displayed more confidence in himself.

All thanks to him. A boy who had came from a war-torn world and gave what he knew about the locust to the right people. Someone who had lost half the people he cared about yet still found the drive to continue, a strong willed person did that. She was brought out of her thoughts when Jaune gave a low sweep kick and knocked Cardin down before shoving the sword near his neck.

"Yield." He said. Cardin hesitated and was about to make a stupid decision but sighed knowing he had lost this battle, some part of him screamed at him for losing but another part reassured him that it was alright.

"Damn it. Fine, you win Arc." He muttered and took Jaune's offered hand.

"Good job fearless leader!" Nora beamed.

"Great job Jaune." Pyrrha smiled.

"Agreed." Ren nodded.

"Thanks guys." He said sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck and sat down as the bell rang.

"That's all for today students. I look forward to seeing you at the ceremony and stay safe on your tour in Atlas." She said. They all nodded and began to walk out of the classroom but Blake noticed Walker still sitting in his seat.

"Walker?" She asked and he looked at her. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, just need to speak with Ms. Goodwitch and I'll be right behind you." He reassured. She hesitated for a second before giving a nod and following everybody else as they headed back to the dorm house to prepare for dinner.

"You know this will probably be the last time they'll see me right?" She asked after a minute of silence.

"It might, but it might not be. Depends if they stick to the training I taught them and use that as a spring board." He said as she sighed and went quiet before walking up and pulling up a seat next to him.

"What happens should one of them die and the other doesn't want to continue?" She asked, staring ahead.

"Then I force them to. It sounds harsh but they know what to do should that happen, survive then mourn later. I have faith that they'll continue... even when they give up on themselves." He answered.

"What about you?" She asked.

"What about me?" He asked.

"How will you continue should one of them die?" She asked.

"...I take their goal they wanted to complete and do it for them. If I have the determination to do that then I have the determination to keep fighting until I have nothing left but even then I'll fight to my last breath." He answered after thinking. All she could do was shake her head and sigh, wishing that times like these weren't as bad as they were.

"Never change Ms. Goodwitch, one day the future huntsman and huntresses need someone like you to guide them in the dark times. Should I die then remember what I always tell Ruby and them 'Even the best people fall down every once in a while, it's what you do to stand up that defines who you are.'" He said as he patted her shoulder and walked out of the room, leaving her alone in the empty classroom.

* * *

Dinner had lasted for more than an hour as the teams were all seated at a table, chatting among themselves while waiting for the ceremony. All of them had on a black military looking uniform with their name tags on their right breast, courtesy of the councilman for saving his son and securing a section of Vale. None of them noticed a group of people pass by the cafeteria and peer inside for a quick second then leave. Their scrolls beeped a couple of times and they looked to see it was almost time for them to arrive, ten minutes to be exact but Walker always told them it was better to be early and wait a minute than be late and miss it.

"Are you excited Weiss?!" Ruby bounced a bit.

"I am Ruby but you should calm down before you tag falls off." Weiss pointed.

"It is? Oh darn." She muttered and tried to fix it. Weiss rolled her eyes before walking up to Ruby and fastening the pin, tightening the tag.

"Well if I do say so myself, you look pretty good in that." Yang said.

"Mhmm." Blake hummed while reading her book. All of them walked to the amphitheater and entered it to see a sign stating where they would be standing on the stage, they saw Walker and gave him a wave while he gave one back and pointed towards the seating chart, tallest in the back while the shortest in the front. Everyone got in their collective positions and stood at attention when Walker addressed them, silencing their chatter before it even began. Ozpin walked in and stood in front of the students while Walker stood to the side with Glynda holding a stack of framed certificates and an object connected to a chain.

"Ahem, welcome guests. You all have come here today because of special circumstances that was notified to you as of recently. Every single one of you have a child here that had been selected for a special program and trained to the peak of perfection. As of now every single one of them has passed the class and passed Beacon and will now be able to perform licensed missions in the future. I hope all of you will be satisfied to say that your children had followed their dreams and became what they wanted to be, if not better and exceed your expectations." Ozpin spoke towards the crowd as he gestured for each student to receive their award. They smiled lightly when receiving their certificate and the object placed around their neck and thanked the Walker and Glynda politely before walking back to their selective spots while staring ahead. Once everyone was back at their spots Walker came up to the microphone and cleared his throat.

"These brave young men and women have sworn under an oath that they shall never back down, never give up, and never be defeated in the face of battle. Under this oath, they will not only protect one another as if they were family but also the citizens of Remnant no matter where. Through the thick and thin will they fight the battles others cannot, through the darkest times they will bring light into the world again, and through understanding will they unite everyone to fight a common enemy. Now if you would, give a round of applause for the huntsman and huntresses of Beacon as well as my own personal Gears." He said. Everyone in the room began to clap loudly and a few cheers were thrown as the students left the room in an organized fashion, the guests saw Walker exchange a few words with Glynda and Ozpin before heading out with the others.

All the students were in the hallway chatting among themselves before they heard a series of familiar voices, they all turned and jumped back in shock when they saw their families coming out of the the amphitheater and look around before spotting them. All of them started to converge on one another and then met their respective parents, Jaune was less than fortunate because his whole family came instead of just his parents. His father had found out that he lied his way into Beacon and had to use every ounce of willpower not to fly over to Beacon to strangle the life out of him and bring him home. But when he found out something his fury had lessened, when he entered Beacon with his wife and daughters it was slightly gone, but when he saw his son. His only son, walk up in that uniform and receive that award and item, his anger was gone. In all his years of being a father, he had never seen Jaune carry himself with that much confidence on him. Suffice to say it made him smirk at the thought of his son being something great.

"Mom, dad!" Jaune shouted and quickly brushed past people and walked up to them. It had been so long since they seen his face but they could tell he was different, his hair remained the same but his face was slightly hardened. He was slightly muscular as opposed to his scrawny self when he left home almost a year ago but the main thing they noticed was his aura, it was high and hadn't reached its full potential but the amount he was displaying was focused.

"Hello Jaune." His mother said and embraced him in a hug while he did the same, it was clear he towered over her now. His father walked up and stared at him for a second, which made him gulp, then embrace him in a hug as well. The three hugged it out before disbanding and they slightly beamed in delight when he showed them his certificate.

 **Jaune Arc of Beacon academy**

It was simple but it had a vast amount of information on it and even displayed Walker's class right underneath. He began to go into details about how Walker said he was one of the best tacticians he ever met and had a score of 600 out of 610, only making one mistake on the tactics quiz. They were amazed when he went into detail about how Walker had been training him and the others tirelessly while teaching him confidence skills and even touched up on his hand to hand combat.

"So you mean to tell me that this boy, your age to be exact, trained you all." His father said.

"Yep. He's also the man who taught me how to shoot a gun and boost up my confidence." He said. They looked past him and saw the man he spoke so highly of, a golden helmet that had a few scratches on it but otherwise appeared in pristine condition, muscular judging by the size of his arms through his sleeves, and friendly since he was talking with a faunus and a Schnee.

"Is a Schnee talking to a faunus? And politely?" His mother asked.

"Yeah, he got Weiss out of her little racism thing. Well technically she already got over it but he just helped her understand why the White Fang are doing what they're doing. You guys should meet him, he's actually really cool when he's not in his training mode." Jaune said.

"Training mode?" His father asked.

"Yeah, he gets a little... intense." Jaune shuddered.

"What'd he do?" His mother asked.

"See that big guy over there" Jaune pointed to Yatsuhashi.

"Yeah." Both of them said.

"Walker made him shed tears the second day of training us. Not to mention we wake up at six in the morning to train for an hour but it was the most difficult thing I've ever done." Jaune said.

"Wow, so what are you all going to do now?" His father asked.

"Well Walker said that we're heading to Atlas to help push back those locust enough for the kingdom to take it back fully." Jaune replied. Both of them blanked after he said that... their little boy was going to war?

"So that means..." His mother said quietly.

"Yeah, I'm uh... I have to go to war. But don't worry, Walker said that should I ever get injured then I'll be running missions from a safe area." He said to try and mitigate their worry.

"That still doesn't make us any less concerned Jaune. Our son is going to war." His father said.

"Dad, I joined Beacon to become someone great. I know you don't agree with me on this but... can you just let me go my own path?" He asked his father, who stared at him for a minute before sighing deeply.

"If that's what you want... but you call us whenever you can." His father said sternly.

"I'll try, where's everyone else at though?" Jaune asked and immediately regretted it when he felt an object impact his spine and yelped in pain before he turned and saw his little sister with her head in his back.

"Hi Jaune!" She beamed.

"H-hi Amber. Can you get off me now?" He asked in pain.

"Yep, what's this?" She asked, gesturing towards the dangling item.

"Oh it's my COG tag." Jaune said.

"COG tag?" Another voice appeared from behind and he turned to see the rest of his sisters there.

"Yeah, Walker said if we have these then we'll be able to identify each other and it also comes in with an emergency beacon. Should one of us need immediate assistance." Jaune explained, holding up the tag and showing everybody. It was a simple standard issue COG tag that matched Walker's but Jaune's was a slightly gold color and had the family crest near the bottom while a tiny button was located near the top. It was clear that Jaune was passionate about being a Gear under Walker's command, never in all their lives have they seen him so happy, granted he was happy with them but it was always forced. He had found his calling card, something that brought out his inner courage and made him shine.

"Enjoying the tag Jaune?" Walker's voice came from behind. Jaune snapped to attention and Walker waved him off, stating that they weren't in the combat zone and formalities wasn't needed as of now, it was a time of peace before the storm hit.

"So you're the one Jaune has spoke so highly of." Jaune's father said.

"Has he now? Well damn Jaune, didn't think I had that much influence on you." Walker mused.

"Hey, it's not everyday that you get taught by a Gear." Jaune said.

"Well it's not everyday an eighteen year old such as myself gets to teach a class of thirty-six students. But aside from that I never got to introduce myself, Lieutenant Walker Ronin." Walker introduced to everybody and shook their hands, only Jaune's father noticed how calloused his hands were. They began to discuss Jaune's progress at Beacon and perked up when they heard that Walker was an expert in bladed weapons and had been giving Jaune lessons alongside Pyrrha. One of his sisters had tried to 'put the moves' on Walker but he brushed her off and stated he already had Yang flirting with him enough, she wasn't any different. His watch beeped and he looked at it before bowing slightly.

"Well everybody, I think this is my farewell to you all and a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Walker said to the family then turned to Jaune. "We're boots on the ground in four days, get ready brother." He added and walked away.

"You weren't kidding when he said he was nonchalant most of the time." Jaune's eldest sister said.

"Yeah, he's really cool to hang around. Though when he's put in a serious situation his demeanor completely changes." Jaune said with a small shudder.

"What happens to him?" One of his younger sisters asked.

"He um... he doesn't sound like himself. Every ounce of emotion is gone in an instant, his fighting is quick and brutal, and not to mention he's deadly silent and is almost like a predator. There was one time when even Blake didn't hear him come in, and she's the most attentive of her team." He replied. They were about to ask but he continued. "Like when I was still in training he would go on missions solo. Comes back after a few hours but was always quiet and reclusive. But the thing that concerns us the most is when he goes in his room and just sits there." He added.

"Sits there?" His mother asked.

"Yeah, just... sits there. I asked him about it and he said that the dark rooms help him cope. Most of the time it's to get rid of something but he never says what it is." Jaune said. All of them shared concerned glances at each other and looked at Walker as he talked to Blake, making her stifle a giggle while he just shrugged nonchalantly. From first glance he seemed fine but if one would look close enough you would almost see him twitch at the smallest things.

"Oh shoot, I need to get ready for tomorrow morning." Jaune said as he looked at the time.

"What's tomorrow morning?" Amber asked.

"We have PT at six thirty. Anyways, I'll see you all later. Bye, love you!" He said as he rushed through the crowd and met up with his team. His family smiled as they saw Jaune with actual friends; as a child he always stuck near his sisters and never really had any other interaction with another person yet here he was at Beacon with numerous people that cared about him. Everyone stopped when they started to sing Rock Steady as they marched to the dorm house, the guests were surprised at the song and Jaune's eldest sister pulled up her scroll and started to record it when they started over, saving it for future keeping. This was one of the rare times they would get together and be at peace before their children would fight the dark times ahead of them.

* * *

Walker sighed as he lied down on the bed and closed his eyes, today was a grand day for him. The people he was training had graduated, he earned a bit of favor from the council, and even met some of the parents. All excepts Ren and Nora's, Weiss', and Blake's. He understood that they were touchy about the topic so he left them alone and let them do their activities before they were shipped off to Atlas, possibly for the next few months, and decided to take the rest of the day to himself. A thought came across his mind, if he managed to train them then why couldn't he train others as well? Granted that would take time and effort but they weren't going to win this war if everybody just sat around and made others do the work. Atlas would need to get back on their feet first before they could help and the White Fang were out of the picture... actually. No they weren't. If he could somehow manage to convince at least one of them then others would soon follow, a raging tide does not start without the first drop. The locust wanted war, then he'd give them war. Whether it be by land, air, or sea. A war is what they brought and it was one they would lose.

"Fight, light, unite." He said to himself as he fell asleep, unaware the impact those words would have on the world.

* * *

 **So happy late new year and welcome back. I'm sorry for not updating this very often and I have a perfectly good excuse, I got lazy and had been dealing with my mental health. Now this may sound like a bullshit reason and an excuse to get attention but I promise you it's not. If there's one thing I don't do in my writing is lie, I feel as if it's a sin against myself if I do it while I write. So sorry if this chapter doesn't meet your expectations because if it doesn't then so what? Deal with it. Anyways, I came here to discuss some reviews, so let's do it.**

 **jkdelta38: Here's another chapter to satisfy you a bit.**

 **Ronmr: Thanks for the feedback.**

 **XCOMHEAVY12: Yeah, I actually met the dude when I was seven and let me tell you, he was one of the most serious people I've ever met. Granted, he was polite and funny but the moment I wasn't near his expression just fell flat. But anyways, you're still one of my favorite reviewers and I hope your story is grand when it comes out, thanks for reviewing.**

 **H0neybadg3r15: Thanks for the feedback man.**

 **Ligare: Problem fixed for you, so there you go.**

 **Digital Ph33rFan: Yeah, forgot about that but hey at least I made up for it so there you go.**

 **Guest: That comment right there made my day.**

 **Keep1n1tFr0st1e: Thanks for the feed back man, and there already is a guy who was inspired by me slightly... I think. His story is 'The Gear That Keeps Turning', I suggest you read it because it's pretty good.**

 **So again, if this chapter didn't satisfy you and you feel like writing an asshole review then just leave. I joined this site because I enjoy writing and felt that this was my calling card as a hobby, so if you don't like it then go away. I'm not here to impress everyone, I'm here to write because it feels natural to me and I won't have somebody bringing me down (You would not believe how many people are messaging me, it gets annoying after a while). So you all know the golden rule about reviews and the one of gears, but that's it. Expect the next chapter when it comes out and have a good one.**


	13. Chapter 13: Operation snowfall

A customized bullhead soared through the air, slicing through the snow and frigid air with ease. Its occupants were alert and calm as they waited silently for the ride to end. After a few hours of silently waiting for the trip to end they finally made it to their destination, a cold militant kingdom that was under constant attack by both Locust and the weather. The bullhead landed on the pad and slowly lowered the doors, letting the frigid air enter the warm air vehicle. Walker led them out of it in an organized fashion and marched for a minute before coming across a large complex, two guards outside with heavy coats on blocked their path.

"State your business." The guard on the left said.

"We're here to see the general." Walker said.

"Name, rank and affiliation." The guard said.

"Lieutenant Walker Ronin. Founder and leader of the Gears." Walker said professionally. The guard on the right checked his scroll for the information and looked at Walker to check and see if he matched the description, sure enough he did.

"He matches, let them through." The guard said. The guard on the left nodded at them and moved out of the way.

"General Ironwood is at the top of the tower, tenth floor." He said.

"Thank you." Walker nodded and walked inside the building. As they walked inside the academy to speak with Ironwood multiple students of the school saw each one of them pass by and began to whisper. They had been hearing rumors of a program in Vale that taught the students to near perfection, effectively turning them into the best fighters. While it would normally be just a rumor and they would brush it off, seeing the actual trained students in person made them think otherwise. All the Gears ignored the whispers that met their ears, these were people that had not met the enemy yet. While they just had their brutal initiation and hadn't fought long enough to know the struggles yet, they still were leagues above these students of Atlas.

"Permission to speak sir." Jaune said.

"Permission granted Arc." Walker replied.

"What are we supposed to look for when you're speaking with the general?" Jaune asked.

"Get settled in then look for anything you can do to help out. Extermination, supply runs, search and rescue, bomb defusing, etc. You have your orders, now carry them out." Walker instructed. All of them gave a quick salute and began to spread out to search for missions. Walker ignored the Atlas students and entered the elevator, hitting the button and waiting a minute for the elevator to head up to its destination. Once it reached the top floor and the doors opened he saw Ironwood sitting at his desk with sheets of paper on his desk and Winter standing by his side. It took a while but finally they noticed him standing there with his armor on. Instead of a white tank-top he always wore, he was wearing a coat to protect him from the frigid temperatures. They never really noticed the insignia on his lancer until now, a crimson omen with a skull inside of it. Ironwood stood up and walked up to him and shook his hand.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance Lieutenant." Ironwood said.

"Like wise sir. Winter." Walker nodded.

"Hello Lieutenant. A pleasure we can meet again." She said.

"Indeed. My Gears have arrived here and are currently searching for missions to attend to." Walker said.

"Of course. Take a seat." Ironwood gestured towards the open seat. Walker made his way to the seat and sat down before looking at the map that had been scribbled on.

"I take it the scratched out parts are the sections that have been lost?" He observed.

"Right, the supply sections and the research ones also are under locust control. Should they manage to take out the weapons and knight manufacturing warehouses then our main source of weapons will be down." Ironwood informed.

"Though if we somehow manage to say 'move' the warehouses then you think you could do that?" Walker asked.

"What do you mean?" Ironwood asked.

"Okay, so we know that if they're heading there next then why not move the materials inside? If we manage to do it discreetly then the locust will think that it's an open target and try to take it, then we might be able to catch them in a trap." Walker explained.

"How do you suppose we set a trap?" Ironwood asked.

"I'm still figuring that out. Though a plan should be formed in a few days, tops." Walker said.

"I guess that's better than nothing." Ironwood sighed. "Though Ozpin had said you and your previous team had a specialization in hunting HVTs, am I correct?" Ironwood asked.

"That is correct sir, is there a mission you have available?" Walker asked, a little interested. It had been a while since he's done one of those.

"Yes. We have been getting reports of a locust that carries a special sawed-off with bayonet. It's been leading a few of the locust and has managed to always eliminate our forces with brutality, I do believe that it's been leading this assault on Atlas." Ironwood said. Winter slid the file in front of Walker and he picked it up carefully, looking at each document carefully.

"If this Theron is leading the assault on Atlas then it's going to be a while to take it out. A single Theron is capable of leading a sheer amount of locust with lethal efficiency, but this one is something else. In order for me to take it out I need to literally take everything it owns out from underneath it; weapons, troops, food, the works. Not to mention that it's a capable fighter and can handle itself but should it fall then another will follow shortly after, I'll need to take out its lieutenants and underboss first, then finally it." Walker explained, snapping a few pictures of the documents on his scroll and pocketing it.

"Understood. Well Mr. Ronin, welcome to Operation Snowfall." Ironwood stood up and held out his hand.

"Glad to be here, this operation might last a while. A few months at least and a year at most." Walker said.

"Walker... you need to understand something. Despite you being Ozpin's soldiers, you have to still be cautious with how you handle things here in Atlas. The people of Atlas are a strict, militant, and cold. They'll try to make you feel inferior to them anyway possible." Ironwood advised.

"Don't worry sir..." Walker said standing up. "This ain't my first rodeo." He said over his shoulder as he walked out of the room. While Ironwood would usually scowl and reprimand someone with that attitude, he really couldn't with Walker. The boy knows what it's like to be under a strict rule book. His view on the people of Sera made him feel slightly cautious about the boy. His people were not only ruthless fighters but they were also brutal survivors. A century of nonstop war had hardened most of them to the point where violence was in their blood with the exception of some civilians but even they were dangerous. Not only were the people dangerous but their weaponry was just as dangerous as the wielder, especially the hammer of dawn; a single weapon that could demolish a city in a few minutes. While Atlas strove to be the best in technology, that weapon wasn't anything beneficial... it was a weapon of mass destruction and he had seen the effects of it, a mass graveyard of ash.

"Permission to speak freely sir?" Winter asked.

"Permission granted Schnee." He said.

"Is there any missions that require my immediate attention?" She asked.

"Not at the moment but in the next several hours I need you to take care of some civil unrest near the central area." He said.

"I will be there." She nodded.

"What is your reason for asking Schnee?" He asked.

"I wish to visit Weiss and catch up with her." She said firmly. He stared at her for a second before sighing deeply and handing her a file of papers before waving her off, he needed to focus on this situation and she needed to see Weiss because this was one of the few times she would be able to see her.

* * *

Walker's room wasn't too big. Decent sized bed with a small window, a computer desk for his laptop, a good size bathroom, and a TV on the wall. First they would get settled in for the night and report to the main hall to see if any missions were available, they needed to start out small if they wanted to take down that Theron. That thing was receiving orders if it was put in charge of taking down Atlas. Already a mission plan was beginning to formulate in his head. First, take down the supply train they had; second, go after anyone who was under him such as lieutenants that could take his mantle. Finally, take down the bastard himself to force the rest of the grubs into a disorganized manner.

"Need to think about this more if we're going to make a difference." He sighed to himself and walked up to the laptop and opened it. His scroll was thrown near the mouse pad while a USB was plugged in on the side. After half an hour of being on the device and looking over the layout of the kingdom and mission details he heard a knock on his door.

"Hey Walker, it's me." Ruby's voice came out from the other side.

"It's open." He said. The door opened and he saw Ruby in her combat gear but had chest armor that hugged her frame to avoid decreasing her mobility, it somewhat matched his to an extent but was black and red.

"You know it's dinner right?" She asked and saw his laptop open.

"No, thanks for the heads up." He said and typed something on the laptop before picking up his scroll and pulling out the USB. They left the room and locked it before walking towards the dining hall, where most students would be having dinner right now.

"What was on that scroll?" She asked with a little bounce in her step.

"Mission details that I'll discuss with you all later... how are you Ruby?" He asked.

"I'm good." She said.

"I mean about the whole war thing." He said and noticed she wasn't skipping anymore.

"Personally... I'm scared. Usually I get excited about using Crescent Rose to do the talking but getting blood on it feels... wrong." She said quietly.

"Yeah, that's how I felt when I first joined. The fear usually disappears over time but the feeling of guilt and everything else doesn't. If you feel guilty about killing even after it's done then it means you did what you had to do and are still human." He said.

"But what about you?" She asked.

"What about me?" He asked back.

"Do you still feel guilty about killing?" She asked.

"People, yes. Grubs? Not a single goddamn feeling... I stop feeling anything after Skorge." He said, making her shrink. She remembered when she managed to crack his journal open and saw his entry about Skorge, something that concerned her the most was when he wrote about the episodes. They were horrid in her opinion. His torture was not only physical but mental also. Apparently Skorge had brought people in front of Walker and killed them in front of him, relishing in the despair the boy presented when he failed another person. Eventually after the tenth person he noticed Walker wasn't even giving a reaction anymore and just glared at him, thus began his physical torture again. Those thoughts pulled at her heart and stomach, rendering both into a nasty knot.

"Hey Walker?" She asked, looking up a bit at him.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"You know we care about you. Even if you don't think it, we've cared about you since the moment you got here." She said.

"I'm aware. I have too Ruby, but people like me sometimes shouldn't have people that cares for them." He said.

"That's where you're wrong." She puffed her chest out.

"Never change Ruby, never give into the darkness like I did." He said and ruffled her hair.

"Dang it Walker." She said angrily and started to swat his hand away while he just laughed. Both entered the lunchroom and saw their group eating at the dinner table while talking with one another. Yang spotted him and waved towards them as they did back, he sat in a seat next to Blake while Ruby sat on his other side. Blake had brought numerous books for the trip and was enjoying them before scowling when Walker leaned over and read a page before snickering.

"What?" She asked.

"Nothing." He mused.

"What?" She asked again.

"Nothing... just didn't think you like those kinds of books." He said from the corner of his mouth.

"Walker, you and I know that no books don't interest me." She said.

"Except the ones I read. You actually found those boring, much to my surprise." He said.

"Bullshit." She muttered and noticed everyone at the table stop and look at her, with the exception of Walker.

"What?" She asked.

"Swear!" Ruby exclaimed and pulled out the jar she had from the start of the year.

"You still have that jar, I thought you got rid of it?" He asked making Ruby shake her head furiously while looking at Blake.

"Dammit Walker." She muttered and placed a lien card in the jar. There must have been over thirty cards tightly packed in there because she barely managed to get the card in there.

"Don't be mad Blake. My twenty is still in there." He said and saw the dollar bill in there.

"Yeah but she doesn't get pissed off at you for cursing like a sailor after getting drunk. This is complete garbage and I won't stand for this crap anymore." She said. Everyone's eyes slowly widened when they saw the most reserved and polite member of RWBY sound so... vulgar, and personally a few of them like it.

"Ah don't worry about it Blake. She still tries to pull that crap with me." He said and went quiet for a second before remembering something. "Hey Blake, remember when I went on the investigation mission, got injured and was hospitalized, and wanted that very specific book?" He asked. Some of them raised an eyebrow at what he was talking about before they saw Blake's eyes widen then narrow.

"No." She said.

"Oh come on, you promised." He said.

"Yeah and I feel like going back on it. Deal with it." She huffed. He tapped the table a few times with his index finger before clicking the side of his helmet and letting the compressed air out with a sharp hiss. He leaned real close to her ear and whispered something in it, making her face heat up and hide it behind the book while letting out a muffled scream.

"You are such a jackass." She muttered quietly.

"I mean someone did mistake me for a jack and I do have an ass, so... yeah." He shrugged. She rolled her eyes and began to read her book but slightly watched Walker have a conversation with everyone and cracked a smile when she saw him actually enjoying himself with them. Every since he had found out about the locust being here he was beginning to act like how he acted when they first found him in Emerald forest. Serious and deadly. When she found out about him being in a war and had suffered numerous wounds; physical, mental, and emotional, she had wanted to do nothing but help him heal. It was clear he was damaged up in his head since he presented the symptoms of PTSD and was violent at times. Although he held no ill intent towards them, she couldn't help but feel a little afraid should he be lost in one of his episodes and he decides to direct his fury on them. She was brought out of his thoughts when he cleared his throat.

"All of you settled in?" He asked them. A chorus of yeses was what he got in return. "Good, because in an hour we're discussing what our main objective is here in Atlas. Meet me in the planning room." He told them.

"Yes sir." They nodded and watched as he stood up and left the room. Blake noticed that he didn't even eat and sighed before grabbing a tray of food and ignoring the other Atlas students that threw her looks, they weren't the ones fighting so they had no right to treat her like that. After a minute of walking she saw Walker in the planning room setting up a billboard and had pictures with strings connecting to pictures of some high ranking locust while a few blank pictures had a question mark on it.

"You know you forgot to eat right?" She asked.

"No, I'm not hungry either." He said as he finished setting up the billboard and stepped back to stand by her. All she could do was shake her head and set the plate down, this wasn't the first time he's neglected something. Although it wasn't the first time, that didn't mean it wasn't concerning because he was doing it more often now.

"Walker... I know you want to get us started asap but you haven't slept in what, two days?" She asked.

"Three. And I'm fine Blake, I'm going to keep doing this until Jaune has enough experience and helps me plan." He answered.

"That's even more concerning Walker. I'm not blind in the slightest, I can see that you're wobbling when you walk, fall asleep at random times, and even get angry at the smallest things." She explained.

"Little obstacles that I'll overcome." He brushed off. She scowled at him and then took a seat while waiting for the others to arrive; after an hour of waiting they finally did and noticed a big board that was littered with pictures, sticky notes, and strings. They all took a seat and noticed that the pictures were of high ranking locust that held some importance, thus quickly coming to the conclusion they were targets.

"As you all know since we've arrived in Atlas the locust have been taking sectors with haste. We've been called upon to assist the kingdom and help out as much as we can until they get back on their feet and take it back themselves. After a quick briefing with the general I've created this board here to show you all what we're up against. Over the past three weeks a highly trained Theron has been leading the assault on the kingdom, our mission is to take it out or capture it for interrogation." Walker explained and saw Cardin raise his hand.

"Why can't we just take it out right now?" He asked.

"If we do that then another one will take its place and continue the vicious cycle. No, we need to take out its lieutenants first before we can do anything." Walker answered. Cardin nodded and listened as Walker explained the rest of the briefing was filled with tasks and intel that needed to be collected in order for them to continue with taking out each lieutenant, there was a total of six. After they were dismissed and walked back to their rooms Walker noticed that the girls weren't leaving and sighed when he noticed they had that 'look' on their faces.

"Walker, get some sleep." Weiss said.

"No, I still have to finish setting this up and make sure everyone's weapons are stocked." He said.

"We already checked our weapons. And I think you've done enough here." Ruby said. He shook his head and walked over to the board, circling the elite Theron's picture and wrote a small side note next to it. Already seeing the girls nagging him to death about his sleep, he decided to save a headache and comply with them. It's not that he didn't want to sleep but it's because he couldn't. Too much planning, too much unforeseen events that can be avoided, too many lives that can be saved if he just... stayed... awake.

"Walker, I'll carry you if you don't get your butt to bed." Yang said.

"Fine. I'm going." He sighed. They followed him until he got to his room and closed the door, the others left but Blake narrowed her eyes when she heard typing and quickly opened it to see Walker at his laptop.

"Walker!" She said.

"Fine." He said and began to get in his sleeping clothes, which was just a pair of shorts. "Happy?" He asked.

"Not until you fall asleep." She said said, crossing her arms. He rolled his eyes beneath his helmet and set his head against his pillow, Blake kept to her word and waited until he was asleep before noticing that he wasn't even tucked in. She walked over and placed the blanket over his body and patted his shoulder as she walked out of the room. This was why they needed to keep an eye on him, because of reasons like these. As she walked towards her temporary dorm she caught sight of Sun with his COG tag caught on his tail. This would have been funny had he not he looked so pitiful, he finally noticed her and gave a small wave before continuing to try and untangle the chain from his tail. She sighed and walked up to him and untangled it for him.

"Thanks Blake." He thanked and carefully pulled the hair caught in it and placed it around his neck.

"How exactly did you get it caught around your tail?" She asked.

"To be honest, I don't know. Things usually get caught around my tail when I play with them. Anyways, thanks and see you tomorrow." He said and started to enter his room.

"Sun wait." She said. He turned around and saw her rub her arm while looking at the ground.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Have you noticed anything... different about Walker?" She asked.

"Uh, as far as?" He scratched his head.

"His attitude, habits, anything?" She asked.

"Now that you mention it, he does tend to get up at night and go to the gym." He said.

"And does what?" She asked.

"I don't know. When I usually ask him about it he just says he was lifting weights but I think that's a lie." He shrugged.

"Why's that?" She asked.

"One, lifting weights doesn't usually involve having your knuckles bruised and not to mention sand around them also." He said.

"Alright..." She said quietly. Sun noticed she didn't seem satisfied with his answer.

"I know he's your teammate and all but is he really that special to you?" He asked. Blake seemed to take that question to heart and let out a small hiss which made him raise his hands in surrender, apparently Walker meant something to her.

"He's... damaged Sun." She said, making him raise an eyebrow showing that he wanted to know more. "He's dealt with the locust for a long time and fought them before. He's lost more people than I will ever make in my life and he's suffered more wounds than a veteran huntsman. The point is Sun, I don't think he can take anymore fighting." She said. Sun placed a hand on her shoulder and gave it a tight squeeze, not out of just doing it for a petty crush but actually being there for her.

"Blake... if he couldn't take anymore fighting then he would have given up long ago. While he scares the hell out of me and Neptune, he's still a guy who's cool to hang around. I think he does have fight in him and that's why he trained us." He tried to explain. She could see where he was trying to go but couldn't quite reach it, overall she was grateful and nodded before entering her dorm. Sun looked at the spot she had left and shook his head a bit before entering his dorm for the night. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day and he could already sense the dread in the air.

* * *

All the Gears woke up before their alarms could trigger and promptly shut them off. Their scrolls buzzed and they received a message instructing them to head over to the planning room with their gear. They got dressed and went to the armory where their gear was located, ignoring the Atlas students who stared too long, then proceeded to head to the planning room. Walker was already there with his gear on, except he had his sawed-off on him rather than his Gnasher; usually when he had that things were bound to get messy.

"Gather around kiddies." He instructed and they complied. "There has been reports of a specialized Boomer near the area that has been leading a tiny assault on a nearby hospital. Five teams are going towards the eastern section of this sector and the other five are going to the western sector, when you reach your destination a commanding officer will be there to brief you and give you your mission. Once we have gotten the Boomer's supplies, troops, and plans out of the way then we hit the fucker when he's the most vulnerable. You have your orders, now carry them out." He ordered and all of them gave a nod before they walked out of the room and outside into the freezing temperatures, already feeling the adrenaline pumping in their veins. Two bullheads with a COG symbol on it awaited its occupants to board, after each team respectively boarded their bullhead they sat in silence while waiting for their transport to drop them off at the designated location. RWBY, ABRN, NDGO, CFVY, and SSSN went to the western section; while JNPR, BRNZ, CRDL, FNKI, and penny's team went to the eastern section of the city to look for missions to do while Walker went to see if there was any intel about the lieutenant. The rides to the different sections lasted around an hour and a half for each bullhead, the teams disbanded at each of their locations and began to search around for work.

While they were doing that, Walker was busy gathering information. The pilot was the same one that transported him on the council mission three weeks ago, he decided to be the Gears personal pilot.

"The drop point is up ahead kid. Make sure to bring me a something for the dashboard." The pilot yelled over the bullhead.

"In your dreams Ash, but I'll get you a seat warmer so you stop complaining about your balls freezing." Walker replied. Ash laughed and lowered the bullhead enough for Walker to jump out then took off before anybody could see the vehicle. He had his lancer equipped and ready while walking towards a warehouse, there was a rumor of a document here that could shed some more light for future missions and a supply cache. Entering the warehouse quietly, he was immediately taken aback at the stench of decomposing bodies which made his face scrunch up. As time passed and he went deeper into the warehouse a small noise made itself known from ahead and he crouched down while moving closer to it, coming up to an office door. He took a few breaths and quickly opened the door, only to reveal a few rats that were on the desk chewing at a piece of leftover food.

"Shoo. Get out of here you little shits." Walker waved towards them, making them scatter while squeaking loudly. He sighed and brushed away the fur that was on the desk as he looked around for the document, eventually after turning the entire office upside down he found the document he was looking for. A smirk made itself known on his face as he opened up the file and snapped pictures of it before grabbing the hard copies and placing them back in the folder and picking them up. He felt something press against the back of his head and a voice came from behind.

"We'll take those documents." The voice said.

"For?" He asked.

"That's none of your concern human." They replied.

"It sort of is but hey, what am I going to do?" He asked.

"Give us those documents and you can walk out of here." They answered.

"You really aren't good at hostage situations you know." He replied.

"Why's that?" They asked, a bit amused.

"First, I can see you three jackasses through the reflection of the clock on the wall. Second, your friend with the hammerburst doesn't have the clip in the right way. And finally, your pistol has a two rounds in it, to which I'll disarm you then kill you with it." He replied. The said person scoffed before crying out in pain when he elbowed them in the face and broke their nose, then twisted their arm counter clockwise and used the pistol to shoot one of them in the neck, making blood fly out and splatter against the wall. He curled his hand into a fist and punched the elbow of the first attacker, making a loud crack and the elbow bend the other way. The person with the hammerburst tried firing with it but blanked when they realized the weapon was jammed. They doubled over in pain when Walker rushed up to them and slammed his knee into their stomach and gave a double axe punch to the back of their head, rendering them unconscious. He looked around and noticed that all three of them were White Fang, the unconscious one was a female deer faunus, the one bleeding to death was a male lizard faunus, and the one with a broken arm was a male wolf faunus. He walked over to the wolf man and gripped his shirt and slammed him in the wall, cracking the tile.

"Seven seconds. That's how long it took me to take all of you down, if this is the best you White Fang can do then you're as good as dead." Walker commented as he stared at the terrorist.

"F-fuck you." The White Fang said.

"No thanks, I already have someone doing that for me. Now tell me this... why did you want those documents?" Walker asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know human?" The White Fang smirked. Walker just stared at the terrorist before pulling out his snub and shooting the man in the kneecap; the White Fang screamed in pain and clutched his bloody leg.

"I'm only going to ask this once... who are you working for and why do you want those documents?" Walker asked stoically. The White Fang member was about to retort but screamed in pain when Walker stepped on his knee and twisting his foot to the side. He applied more pressure on the knee until he heard a loud crack and looked down to see the man's knee shattered and at an awkward angle, the man screamed in more agony before a boot made contact with the side of his head and knocked him unconscious.

"Weakling couldn't even handle a broken leg." Walker scoffed and looked at the unconscious deer faunus and woke her up by slapping her face. She woke up and yelped in pain as her antlers were suddenly gripped and she was thrown into the wall next to her unconscious ally. Her lip quivered when she saw the state he was in and then gulped when Walker gripped her shirt and stared at her.

"Y-y-you'll never get anything out of me." She declared.

"I'm actually running on a tight time schedule right now so I'll spare you the unnecessary talk. Tell me what you know and I won't have to put a bullet through your skull, capiche?" He asked while placing the snub pistol underneath her chin. Her lip quivered horribly the longer he stared at her, before the trigger could be pulled she shouted.

"Okay! We work for Roman Torchwick and we needed those documents to see about the next shipment of weapons!" She shouted and gagged when his hand tightened around her throat.

"What else?" He asked.

"That's it I swear! We were just here to give him the all clear, now please let us go!" She begged. He looked at her and sighed deeply at the thought process that had formed in his head but a slight sadistic smile appeared on his face.

"Tell you what. I'll let you all go." He said.

"Oh thank Oum." She breathed.

"Call Roman though." He said.

"What?" She asked.

"Call. Roman. Now." He punctuated while having the pistol aimed at her forehead. He needed to get back to deliver these documents but he might as well use a weapons smuggler to his advantage. The deer faunus called Roman and talked with him for a minute before breathing in relief when he said he was on his way then handed the scroll to Walker, who crushed it underneath his boot.

"So what happens now?" She asked.

"Now, you take a nap." He replied and punched the side of her head. Now all that was left was to wait for the criminal to arrive, a plan was forming inside of his head and it was a good one at that.

* * *

Roman hadn't been too well in the past few months. First, both him and Neo had to flee from Cinder after she decided to 'let them go' from their agreement after this job; second, these nightmarish reptile people from the ground below sprung up and decided to conduct a worldwide genocide of all faunus and humans on Remnant. The final thing was that Neo had developed a strange obsession with the kid who had managed to beat her, he also fit her bill since he was as psychotic as her too. Usually when people interest her they end up dead after she's done 'playing' with them, something the last guy had the unfortunate fate of.

"What I wouldn't do for a light." He sighed as his cigar hung limply from his lip and he walked into the dark room.

"Maybe I can help with that." A familiar voice bounced off the walls as a flicker of light provided small illumination to the room. Roman blanked a bit when he saw the ominous blue helmet lights flicker on with a dull hum and shed some more light as they stared at him. This truly was unsettling as he stood there stock still while staring at the mysterious boy that sat calmly in an office chair while propping his arms on the fine wooden business desk. He wasn't afraid of the boy, Oum no, but he was very cautious around him after their first tussle; this kid had displayed incredible amounts of power when he fought and was a skilled fighter that surpassed him slightly.

"Well fancy seeing you here boy, to what do I owe-" Roman started.

"Shut the fuck up and sit down Roman." Walker said stoically and watched as the criminal sat down cautiously. He stared at him for a minute before slamming his hand on the side of the desk and the sound of glass breaking could be heard. Neo stared wide eyed and let out a small cry of pain when his grip on her wrist increased and he held it there for a minute before letting go and gesturing for her to sit down next to Roman, she nursed her wrist gingerly while staring at the boy who saw past her illusions.

"So uh... kid." Roman said awkwardly.

"First, don't refer to me as kid. Second, relax Roman. I'm not going to kill you... yet." Walker said lightheartedly which made the criminal scoot back a bit. "But that's not the reason I had that terrorist call you." He added seriously.

"Then what was the reason?" Roman asked.

"As I said when you and I fought, you interest me. Someone who managed to hijack numerous paladins right underneath the General's nose has talent, not to mention the countless heists you've done in the past." Walker said as he tilted his head. Normally, Roman would beam in delight and take pride in those deeds but he couldn't right now since he didn't want to provoke the kid in front of them into another fight.

"Okay, so?" Roman said.

"Since I'm running on a tight time schedule and my Gears should be back since it's been several hours, I'm going to make you a proposition." Walker offered.

"And that is?" Roman asked with narrowed eyes; he didn't like whatever this kid was offering.

"You act as my personal smuggler whenever I call on you and require assistance and I won't mutilate your bodies and leave them for the Butchers to carve up and feast upon." Walker said while drawing small circles with his finger. Roman was in a bad situation right now, he had expected this to go better but the fact that he was being forced to be another lap dog just like how he was with Cinder irked him to no end.

"I'm not doing this. You can take your offer and shove it up red's ass." Roman said, he was done being another's bitch and wanted to be his own man again.

"Hmm." Walker clicked his tongue, "Shame too, because the last time I checked... you had no where else to run to. It's obvious that your Cinder doesn't need you anymore since she's sent multiple assassins after you and Neo, but I guess I'm wrong." He said as he stood up and made his way towards the door. A droplet of blood landed on roman's shoulder and he looked at it, feeling it between his fingers then looked as another droplet landed on Neo. Both looked up and widened their eyes when they saw the skinned body of the lizard faunus strung up on the ceiling by his intestines, they immediately scooted back and bumped into Walker.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Roman asked.

"Simple, you provoked me into doing something drastic and talked about Ruby. I was going to let you go until I processed what you had said and decided..." Walker said as he grabbed their shoulders and held them in a bone crushing grip. "You don't have a fucking choice anymore. If you two were afraid of Cinder... then you'll be terrified of me." He whispered sadistically next to their ears. Both shook at his tone and noticed it held no room for argument, it was more menacing than Cinder's and made her's look like a small time threat.

"Don't fuck with a Gear that had suffered through a war already. We tend to get a little... violent when our brothers and sisters are talked about." He said and flexed his fingers on their shoulders. Eventually after a minute of silence he let them go and both whirled around to face him, noticing that he had already holstered his weapons and handed them a cards.

"What's this for?" Roman asked as he and Neo grabbed the cards from his hand.

"My scroll number, it also informs the General that my plan carried through." Walker said.

"What?!" Roman exclaimed and Neo went wide-eyed, quickly bringing up her scroll and typing a message.

 _"Are you insane?! The General will have our asses on a stick now!"_ It read.

"No he won't. Ozpin had told him about our little fight at the weapons festival and he made an offer to me; should I get you two as our personal smugglers then he's willing to take some years off your jail time." Walker said.

"That doesn't make us want to help you in the slightest." Roman replied.

"Again, we haven't officially shook hands on it so the deal isn't finalized. I don't really need you two but you sure as hell need me. But aside from that, I need to leave and meet up with my Gears so have fun with Cinder." Walker said and walked out the door. Once he left the room both of them let out a breath they didn't know they were holding. It was true what he said about them needing him, they had nowhere else to go at this point; Vale was still on the hunt for them, Atlas too, Vacuo was too dangerous with those things popping up every so often, and Menagerie was where most of the White Fang resided.

"What do you think Neo?" Roman asked her.

 _"To be honest, I don't think we have a choice here. I don't want to go back to Vale since the hunt for us is still on but I'm not going to work for Cinder anymore, she's too much of a bitch."_ She typed.

"But you have no problem with the kid being worse than she is. I don't know if you noticed but he skinned an animal and strung them up on the ceiling, he even stabbed you!" He gestured towards the ceiling then towards her stomach. She lifted her shirt and looked at the scar where the knife embedded itself in her stomach before putting it down and bringing up her scroll again.

 _"Lucky hit, plus he's interesting. Such a mysterious man that is skilled enough to take both of us, has respect for women, and is dangerous. Something I crave and will have."_ She typed. He looked at her and scooted back as she started to go into her obsessive mode. Usually when she's like that her eyes change colors rapidly and her smile turns sadistic.

"Well if he says we can steal weapons then I guess it's not that bad." He sighed making her grin widen a bit.

 _"But we have a small problem."_ She typed.

"What is it?" He sighed.

 _"Where are we going to stay because I'm pretty sure after this job then Cinder will have us killed."_ She typed.

"We'll manage, let's get these weapons to-" He stopped when the body hanging up fell and splashed blood all over them, while he recoiled Neo on the other hand smiled and made her think about what else the mysterious soldier boy could do.

* * *

"Yang calm down." Ruby said.

"No! Those ugly scaly pieces of crap got blood in my hair!" She fumed.

"That's because you shot it in the chest and blood got on you, so if anybody is at fault it's really you." Blake said, wiping some blood off her sword.

"It got too close so I had no choice!" Yang argued. Everybody scooted back as she started to glow and her eyes turned red, while it would seem like she was pissed off beyond her normal boundaries they all knew she was still high on adrenaline. She fumed for a few more minutes before falling asleep while leaning against Blake, despite winning their first battle they knew something was different, they felt wrong in a sense. The hospital was safe but there had been so many lives lost before they got there it felt like they hadn't even made a dent. After an hour of sitting in silence the bullhead landed and each one of them shakily got up to exit, they saw the other bullhead land and its occupants stumble out with blood on them. The only one that seemed to be not tired was Penny, who looked around every so often. All of them walked towards the academy and caught the sight of the students staring at them then backing up when they walked by with blood all over their clothes. After a short walk towards their collective rooms and entering it, all of them practically fell asleep.

Walker's bullhead arrived shortly after the other two and he stepped off with the documents in his hand, granted there were a few bloody smudges on them but the actual documents were still in mint condition. Blood had covered his person as he walked throughout the school grounds and towards the General's office, keeping a steady stride while ignoring the numerous glances he got from the students. They stared too much and it was beginning to bother him immensely.

"Staring will get them in trouble one day." He muttered as he entered the elevator. As the elevator ascended to the top floor of the academy, he still couldn't help but feel a small sliver of pity when he skinned that White Fang. He never intended to kill him but that was the first thing that came to mind after the diplomatic approach failed, but he had to admit skinning the poor man's body was a little bit of overkill. His thoughts were cut short when the elevator door opened and he stepped out to greet the General and slide the documents in front of him.

"Why is there blood on the folder?" Ironwood asked.

"Had a run in with a couple of White Fang, dealt with though. Torchwick and his little bodyguard should be calling soon if they knew what benefits them." Walker informed.

"I know this is your plan but are you sure we can trust them?" Ironwood asked seriously.

"They already know the cost should they betray us and they don't have any other place to go without being killed. Torchwick may have huntsman level fighting skills but compared to the locust he's a mere annoyance to them, Neopolitan also. If they were to go against some of the more skilled locust then they'll be dead faster then they can blink." Walker said. Ironwood had his doubts about this whole plan because it could blow up in their face anytime but they needed as much help as they can get, even if it was a pair of criminals that stole Atlas grade materials.

"Should this backfire on us then you are responsible." Ironwood said.

"Sir, if they betray us then I'll kill them and turn myself in." Walker reassured. All the General could do was sigh and give a nod, he knew he had to trust the boy because he had the most experience out of everyone and the video footage only gave so much.

"Alright... I'll trust you." Ironwood sighed.

"That's all I'm asking sir." Walker said and began to walk out of the office, leaving the General alone with his thoughts. He knew the boy was only trying to get the manpower to give them an edge but he felt that he was playing with fire giving the boy that much freedom.

"May Oum have mercy on our souls should we fail." Ironwood muttered.

* * *

 _"Walker?" A tiny voice echoed from a room as waves crashed in the background._

 _"Yeah bro?" He asked while writing in his journal._

 _"When is mom coming back?" Ajay asked as he sat in the chair next to his brother and drew a picture._

 _"..." Walker didn't reply and stopped writing for a second then continued but at a slower pace, something that his brother noticed but said nothing._

 _"I hope she's okay." Ajay said slightly worried._

 _"... Yeah, me too. Let's get you something to eat then get you tucked in." Walker said as he patted his brother's shoulder._

 _"Can we have something sweet?" Ajay asked as he hopped off the chair._

 _"I'll see if Grandma can cook us something, knowing her, she will." Walker reassured. Ajay gave a cheer and ran out the ship room as Walker shook his head and followed him out the door, heaving the heavy metal blockage to seal the entryway to their quarters. He carefully maneuvered passed people as they did their daily activities and eventually found Ajay near the cafeteria while bouncing on his feet as he waited in a line. He stepped in line with his brother and calmly waited as people got their food and sat down to eat then grabbed both their trays and sat down. Ajay tore into his food with haste and barely even tasted it while Walker settled for a more slow approach, tasting it and then smiling when he noticed it was his grandma's signature recipe of Shepherd's pie. How she managed to make enough for the ship was beyond him but he was grateful there was enough for them._

 _"Boys." A feminine voice range out and both turned to see a woman in her early to mid forties approach them; she had on a pair of dark jeans and a red and black flannel shirt with a lab coat over her shoulders. Her hair was pitch black and skin was similar to his but a lighter shade, she had the softest brown eyes that could bring anyone to a comfortable feel but could harden in an instant when provoked._

 _"Mommy!" Ajay cried out and ran towards her, hugging her tightly while beginning to talk her ear off. She nodded at each thing he said and then led him back to his seat before pulling up one next to Walker._

 _"Hey mom." He said._

 _"Hey Walker. Is that your grandma's shepherd pie?" She asked._

 _"Yeah, apparently she and the rest of the cooks found enough food to feed the whole ship. She said that she would make us something earlier." He said._

 _"Probably her cupcakes that she's been dying to make. It was your father's favorite..." She said and went quiet. He went quiet also and the air around them seemed to be thick with tension with the exception of Ajay humming; while she didn't mean to bring it up, she did on accident._

 _"I didn't mean to say that." She said quietly._

 _"It's alright. I miss him too." He said just as quiet. They sat in silence for a few minutes then eventually turned to an hour before Walker's watch beeped and Nash's voice came up, making him sigh._

 _"Mission?" She asked._

 _"Yeah, we found another food shipment." He sighed._

 _"Be careful alright? I can handle losing a few hours of research but I can't handle losing my son." She said._

 _"Alright mom. Save a cupcake for me." He patted her shoulder and ruffled Ajay's hair before walking out of the cafeteria and towards his room._

* * *

He woke up suddenly in a cold sweat and looked around. His gaze eventually fell on his scroll on the charger and flicked it on, squinting when the brightness caught him off guard and looked to see it was one in the morning. There wasn't any new intel at the moment which meant they couldn't do anything right now but see if there was anything that needed to be helped out, little missions to keep everyone busy.

"Can't sleep. Need to vent." He muttered and got out of his bed. Simple white tank top and tan sweatpants would have to suffice for now. Picking up his scroll and quietly opening the door and shutting it behind him he began to walk towards the private gym where he reserved for his Gears. It was nice of the General to have this little area used as a training area for them and he would thank him later but right now he needed to vent badly. He didn't want to remember those final days, the pain was too much.

Once he got to the training area near the back, he began to wrap his hands while walking over to a punching bag and stare at it. The sound of fists connecting could be heard throughout the quiet room as he punched it normally then began to beat it more ferociously as time passed, it began to get to the point where his knuckles began to hurt but he paid no mind, they would heal later in the day.

 _'I can handle losing a few hours of research but I can't handle losing my son.'_ His mother's voice rang out in his head.

"But you didn't think I could handle losing you?" He asked quietly as he delivered a heavy punch to the bag and make it sway back due to the force of his punch. Close jabs were thrown for a few minutes then heavy ones after that before it was a combination of the two. The chain holding the bag swayed violently as he continued to beat the bag mercilessly while memories began playing in his head.

 _'Jesus fucking almighty! They gave me a kid!'_

 _'By Nash or Captain.'_

 _'Mr. Guardian angel.'_

 _'That's for using the mortars dumbass.'_

 _'It's alright. You mad at me kiddo?'_

 _'When is mom coming back?'_

 _'It was your father's favorite.'_

 _'Walker... I'm so proud of you... almost grown and already trying to save the world... that's the kind of man I want looking after his family when he's grown...'_

"Walker?" A voice asked. The bag flew off the chain and had a large hole in it as it flew across the room and landed roughly on the ground while spraying sand all over the place. His breathing was heavy as he stared at the downed bag then walked to another corner of the room and picked another one up, setting it on the chain and began to punch it again but stopped when he felt a hand set on his shoulder. He turned to see Blake standing there with a worried expression on her face as she stared at him.

"What are you doing up?" He asked.

"I could say the same for you." She said.

"That doesn't answer my question Blake." He replied flatly and began to punch the bag again.

"I thought I heard something outside and looked to see your figure heading down the hallway and decided to follow you." She said.

"That's kind of invading my personal space." He commented to which she rolled her eyes.

"Now what are you doing up?" She asked.

"Punching a bag." He answered and began to punch it again but stopped after a few hits when he heard someone clear their throat and saw the rest of the girls there.

"Mind explaining why you're punching a bag?" Weiss asked.

"Helps me cope. Now get back to bed because we have missions to do in the morning." He replied and began to hit the bag again but more furiously. Each hit that connected made a loud thumping noise and the chain made a swinging noise. The girls seemed unsatisfied with his answer and noticed something off about him, specifically his fists.

"You're bleeding." Blake said.

"I'm fine." He retorted.

"Walker you're not fine since your fists are bleeding." Yang gestured.

"They'll heal, like they always do." He said and hit the bag violently, making it fly forward before he caught it and began to hit it again.

"You said that you're doing this to cope but cope with what?" Ruby asked.

"..." He didn't even answer and just kept hitting the bag, they didn't need to know everything, they needed to focus on the future and not his past.

"We're not leaving until you tell us." Weiss said. They jumped when the bag flew off the chain and landed next to the original one, though the hole in the current one was bigger and more sand spread all over the ground. He brushed passed them and sat down on a nearby bench, unwrapping the wraps from his hands. The girls blanked a little bit when they saw the state his hands were in, bruised and bloody more than they like. He tried to stand but was sat down roughly by Weiss and Yang while Ruby and Blake got the first aid and tended to his hands.

"I can handle the rest." He said.

"Sit down and shut up. We're working." Blake said as she wiped the blood from his hands.

"How long is this going to take?" He asked.

"As long as needed, plus we need to talk with you." Ruby said.

"If it's about missions then we'll discuss it in the morning-" He said.

"It's not about that Walker." Yang interrupted.

"Then what?" He sighed.

"Why are you cutting us off?" Blake asked.

"I'm not." He said.

"Yes you are, we've been in Atlas for a two weeks now and you've been more distant from us than usual." She said.

"It hasn't even been a two weeks." He replied.

"Yes it has, look." Ruby said and showed him the scroll, indicating that weeks had gone by.

"What the fuck?" He said, grabbing the scroll and seeing that a few weeks had gone by that fast.

"We've been doing missions nonstop this whole time, have you seriously not noticed?" She asked.

"Not really." He shrugged and went silent as did they. The silence went on for a few minutes as they tended to his hands and noticed how rough they were, they figured as much with him continuing to fight even though he's had his fair share of fighting and didn't need anymore. He couldn't help but notice how soft their was despite their hardships; Ruby's was like a pile of rose petals, Weiss' was like the sheets of a soft mattress, Blake's was akin to a pillow, and Yang's was like a soft dandelion. There was a reason why he was beginning to cut them off, it was to prepare them should he die at any moment. They didn't even need him half the time because they were strong, strong enough to take down the locust with ease and still remain the same, unlike him. What happens after the war and they're thrust back into their previous lives? What about him? He has no one to go back to, no friends, no family, not even a fucking familiar face from Sera to make him feel like he fit somewhere. The people of Remnant don't know about his backstory. How could they? Not a single one apart from the select few know what he had to go through. No one knew what it was like to-

"Walker... it's okay." Ruby said as she hugged him. He stared ahead blankly as the rest of them hugged him while he just stared.

"You don't have to worry about us leaving you. We're here to the end, despite you thinking that you're alone, you're not." She added. He looked down at his open palms and his vision flickered to see them full of ash as waves could be heard in the background while the sound of cheering was evident. It went back to normal and he saw that he was clenching his mother's pendant that he carries around. It was an ocean wave with a glowing blue moonstone in the middle.

"What's that?" Blake asked.

"My mother's pendant." He answered quietly. They blinked at it and noticed that it was pure silver and gleamed brightly.

"It's beautiful." Weiss said.

"Yeah, she always wore it and cleaned it everyday to keep it this shiny." He said as he used his thumb to rub it. A sigh escaped his lips and he looked to see that an hour had passed and decided that it was time for them to turn in for the night.

"We should head back to the rooms." He said.

"Alright, see you there." Ruby said and led them to his room. He stood there looking at his mother's pendant before clenching it in his fist and placing it over his neck then began to walk back to the room closing the door once he entered, he noticed that it was open and that the girls were already sitting on his bed.

"You know people are going to get the wrong idea right?" He asked.

"Meh, since when do you care about what other's thought?" Yang asked.

"I don't. I just don't want unnecessary conversations with people who think all of us are having sex with one another. Scoot." He waved. They moved over as he climbed in the middle and got comfortable as they went on both sides of him. Blake placed a hand on his chest and set her head against it as he closed his eyes and began to fall asleep, they hand't done something like this in a while and usually when they do it's when he's stressed. He just hoped the others wouldn't jump to conclusions.

* * *

"If any one of you says a single goddamn thing I'm having your asses on a pike." Walker said as he stared at them all, except RWBY. He knew that having the girls sleeping in the same room as him was a bad idea, for reasons like these. Every single one of them thought that he slept with every single one of them last night when they saw the girls come out of his room with disheveled hair and tired expressions.

"But I mean you can't blame us can you?" Sun asked.

"No, now shut the fuck up because new intel came in. We finally found the Boomer in a nearby warehouse just south of here. I need three teams covering the south end and three teams covering the north end while four teams cover the east and west end." Walker instructed.

"What about the Boomer?" Jaune asked.

"Once the outside force is dealt with then we head inside, clear out any opposition that stands between us and the fat fucker, then kill him. Any other questions?" Walker asked and noticed Yatsuhashi raise his hand.

"Why can't we extract him and interrogate him for new intelligence?" He asked.

"Locust would rather die and be known dying for the horde than give us answers. Believe me, I already wasted two hours of my life torturing one for even a peep." Walker said, making them recoil. "If we're done asking questions then let's get it done!" He added. All of them gave a unified cheer and went to the armory to grab their issued weapons as well as their personal ones. If anybody was more prepared then it was Jaune. Despite him being terrified of dying anytime, a small part of him could help but feel honored to serve next to Walker, who claimed that in the near future would help come up with battle plans. He grabbed his Lancer and checked it before grabbing his sword and shield, checking them also.

"Let's move it Arc!" Walker called which made him shut his locker door and quickly head out the armory to see a surprising sight. Torchwick and some girl were standing in the courtyard while the Gears and had their weapons trained on them.

"On the ground Torchwick!" Ruby commanded, making him chuckle.

"Oh come on Red. I know our last encounter was less than savory but pulling weapons already is a bit unnecessary." He smirked.

"Not in the slightest." She growled a bit and kept her weapon trained on him as did everyone else.

"Open fire!" A captain said.

"Belay that order Gears!" Walker called from behind. They all widened their eyes and the captain growled as he turned to face Walker.

"What do you think you're doing boy!? This man is a danger to the students here and you're ordering them to not shoot him?! Open fire!" The captain shouted.

"Gears, I swear to God if you shoot them then you can kiss your asses goodbye!" Walker shouted. Tension was high as the Gears were conflicted at what to do, on one hand they were in another kingdom and needed to make a good impression to let people help them but on another hand Walker was their leader and they followed him. After a short debate in their minds they came to a conclusion, following Walker's order and lowering their weapons.

"You had better have a good explanation as to why your stopping them from killing that man." The captain seethed.

"Because they're _my_ soldiers captain, not your's. We're residents from Beacon and natives of Vale which means you have no jurisdiction over them, not to mention Mr. Torchwick is currently on his way to the General's office to discuss our arrangement. If you have a complaint then take it up with the General and stop acting like you control my Gears because you have that ranking. Now get the fuck out of my face you glory hound." Walker said lowly as he stared at the captain, who glared back. Eventually the man stormed away and towards the General's office while Walker watched him go before turning back to see all of them stare at him. He brushed past them and looked at Roman and Neo.

"Glad to see you kid." Roman smirked.

"You're lucky I ordered them to stop or else Ruby would've shot you." Walker said flatly.

"Red doesn't have the guts." Roman said.

"Ruby, near his ear." Walker ordered. Not even a second passed by before a sniper round whizzed past his ear with a loud crack which made the criminal blank when he saw Ruby lower her sniper rifle.

"Still think she doesn't have the guts?" Walker asked.

"What the hell did you do to her?" Roman asked.

"None of your concern, now shut the fuck up and listen. Betray us and I'll kill you, put one of us in danger and I'll kill you, harass even one of us and I'll shove my boot so far down your throat I'll be kicking your nuts. Do I make myself clear?" Walker asked, making both of them blank and nod. "Team SSSN, take them to the General's office and meet us at the warehouse shortly after." He ordered as they nodded without hesitation and led the two. Everyone else looked at him incredulously.

"Are you insane?!" Arslan shouted.

"I have a severely damaged mental state that rapidly dwindling at an alarming rate due to the conflict ahead, so yes I am slightly insane." He deadpanned, making all of them blink.

"Oh... really didn't expect you do answer that truthfully." She muttered.

"Walker, he's a criminal." Blake said.

"I'm aware." He replied.

"So why is he here and listening to you?" She asked.

"Cut him a deal, should he provide weapons for our forces then the General assured that a couple of years would be taken off his prison sentence." He replied as they entered the bullhead.

"He should be in prison now for all the damage he's done over the years." Weiss said.

"And he will, as soon as this war ends. Plus, he's already serving almost twenty plus years for stealing military grade material. Not to mention he doesn't have anywhere to go and plus... a weapons smuggler on our side is a slight edge against the grubs, so a necessary evil." He explained, sharpening his knife and watched as it gleamed brightly. No one seemed comfortable with letting a criminal have that much freedom but they sighed knowing that once something is in Walker's hand it's never coming out. They all saw the way Roman seemed cautious about Walker and could see that he was on a tight leash.

"Should he betray us?" Pyrrha asked.

"Then you know what to do. If he uses us as leverage to escape then you blast the fucker faster than he can run. I won't allow a criminal to use my Gears or innocents as leverage." He replied seriously. Blake's mind flashed for a second as she swear she saw a hint of Adam in him but then brushed it away when he registered innocents as well, Adam never cared if a human was innocent or not, if they were in the way then they met their end. This is what Walker meant when they sometimes had to do things they didn't like.

"When we get to the warehouse I want nothing but the sound of grubs dying, no fucking around or even fancy moves. You stick to your Beacon and Gear training until every single one of them is dead. We take this fat fuck down then this frees this province from his assault. Clear?" He asked.

"Crystal." They replied in unison.

"Good, now let's get it done." He said and they all equipped their weapons and body armor and checked them before waiting quietly for the ride to arrive at it's destination. The ride to the warehouse was long and tense as everyone prayed to God that nothing went wrong.

* * *

The moment the bullhead doors opened all of them jumped out and rolled forward before engaging the locust outside, not wasting anytime. A group of locust fell down after being caught by surprise before the taking cover as the teams fired and took cover also. Each team cleared out a number of the locust before quickly going to their side of the warehouse and clearing out any opposition on the way. Walker slid into cover next to Jaune and fired at a Drone that was getting too close, killing it then going back in as hammerburst rounds impacted next to him. Both of them waited a few seconds until the gunfire stopped then quickly popped up to kill a Grenadier that was rushing them.

"Hey Walker!" Jaune shouted over the gunfire.

"Yeah?!" He shouted back.

"When we get inside the warehouse, do you care who kills the Boomer?!" Jaune shouted.

"No! We just need to put the fucker in the ground and free this province then notify the General!" Walker shouted, ducking underneath a sniper round and pulling out his snub pistol, firing a couple of times and killing the sniper. Jaune nodded and stumbled back when a Drone vaulted over cover and kicked him. He rolled out of the way as its boot impacted the ground and unsheathed his sword, quickly rushing up to it and ducking underneath a fist before stabbing its knee and shoving the sword in its jaw. He whipped the blood off and sheathed it before quickly rushing over to his downed gun and grab it as he slid into cover. A Grenadier vaulted over the cover and aimed its shotgun at Walker but roared in agony when he whirled around and slammed the revved up chainsaw on its shoulder, forcing it down its body and bisecting it.

"Arc, gun!" Walker shouted as he picked up the shotgun and tossed it to him. Jaune caught it and turned around just in time to shoot a wretch in the chest and split its body into various directions, splashing blood on him.

"Thanks!" He said and killed a few more locust as the rest of JNPR finally slid next to them. Nora had her grenade launcher equipped while Ren had his stormflowers in his hands. Pyrrha had a lancer in her hands and peeked out of cover to kill a Drone that was advancing. Nora peeked out and fired a grenade at a couple of locust and sent their bodies into pieces. Ren fired into a wretch as it vaulted over cover and gave a swift kick to Nora, who then proceeded to smack it with her hammer. Eventually after a few more minutes of killing, all the outside forces were dealt with and everybody met up at the entrance of the warehouse.

"What's the play boss?" Cardin asked.

"We go in hard and fast, stack up." Walker instructed as he placed some charges on the door. Everyone went on either side of door and waited silently as Walker looked in front of him to see CRDL, CFVY, ABRN, SSSN, and Penny's team; then looked behind him to see RWBY, JNPR, BRNZ, NDGO, and FNKI give him a thumbs up. They covered their faces as the explosive ripped the door off its frame and sent in flying inside, crushing a nearby Grenadier and crippling a few locust. All of them rushed in and took cover as gunfire echoed throughout the establishment. In the center of the warehouse was a massive Boomer that had a horned helmet on and a few human and faunus skulls on his belt. His boomshot had blood smeared on it and a few finger bones near the handle.

 **"Ground walkers!"** He roared. The rest of the locust roared and shrieked as they began to advance on the Gears and fire upon them. There was a few catwalks that Walker noticed and he looked at May and Ruby.

"Ruby, May! Catwalk up there, sniper support!" He shouted and they quickly spotted the ledges and nodded. The teams gave them support fire as they made their way up to the ledges and began to pick off locust from above. A few of the locust spotted them and began to climb the stairs to advance on them but fell short when Nora shot the space in front of them and made them fly off before being buried underneath the metal. The locust seemed to be angered by that and started to fight more furiously as they advanced faster, one of them managed to vault over the cover but quickly fell when Walker shoved his knife in its chest and dragged it up before stabbing it in its head. He grabbed a frag grenade and tossed it next to a few of them, killing three out of the four. He turned when Nebula screamed and he saw she had a bullet wound in her side.

"Penny! Tend to her!" He shouted. She nodded and quickly rushed over, dragging her over to the rest of them and moved her sleeve to tend to the wound.

"Don't worry, you'll be okay!" Penny said in her usual jubilant voice.

"How the hell are you still this happy?!" Nebula shouted then cried out in pain when Penny applied the first aid.

"I'm not! I'm actually quite terrified right now!" Penny shouted back. Walker saw that the locust were beginning to thin and noticed there were five left.

"Five left!" He shouted. A Drone vaulted over cover but its body flew through the air like a rag doll when Ruby sniped it. A grenade landed next to them and they all scattered as it exploded. A piece of shrapnel flew into Walker's arm and he bit back a hiss of pain. The other four locust were dealt swiftly which left the Boomer by himself.

 **"Boom!"** He shouted and fired a grenade at them. They rolled out of the way as it laughed and reloaded, grunting in annoyance when sniper rounds impacted it, which made it turn towards the catwalk and fire a grenade at the girls. Both of them dove out of the way as the space they were occupying exploded and the support beams groaned before collapsing, sending them falling on the ground and recovering with pain. All of them fired at it as it just marched on but eventually grunted in pain when some of the rounds penetrated its skin. Coco equipped her minigun and fired into it then dove to the left as it fired a grenade at her.

"Give it everything you got!" Walker shouted, prompting them to fight harder.

 **"NO!"** The Boomer shouted as it fired one last grenade at them then fell down as a sniper round soared through its jaw and took it off before multiple rounds ripped through its skull and took it apart piece by piece. The body thumped down heavily and the Gears waited for a few minutes before finally acknowledging that it was clear. All of them stood in silence before falling on their knees and breathing in relief.

"H-holy shit." Nolan breathed, voicing everyone's thoughts. Walker clicked the side of his helmet and turned his radio to the General's frequency.

"General, the Boomer has been dealt with." He informed.

"Good, that should make the rest of the locust scatter in this province. I'm sending a squad of marines to secure the sight." He said.

"Understood." Walker replied and turned back to the rest of them. "Good news, aside from the fact that this province is free, a squad of marines is heading this way to secure this warehouse." He added.

"How long will that be?" Flynt asked.

"Half an hour, our job here is done. Good work Gears." Walker said and led them back to the bullhead drop off point. The wait lasted for a few minutes before the sound of their prized bullhead was in sight and landed on the ground. Each one of them boarded it and sat down on the seats, wiping away any blood from their weapons and armor as they leaned back. The door closed slowly and they all felt it take off. He sat next to Blake and Ruby as they leaned their heads against his shoulders and fell asleep while he just sighed in relief at their first mission was successful, only having Nebula's injury.

"How're you holding up Nebula?" He asked.

"A little sore from the wound." She winced when Penny touched it.

"It'll get better." He said.

"If you say so." She replied and leaned back in her seat.

"Trust me, it will." He reassured and leaned back in his seat. A mission report would be needed as of tomorrow but right now they all needed rest, him included. He just hoped nothing came up in the next few days... or weeks but knowing the locust, something will.

* * *

Adam was not in the best of moods as of right now, though no one could really tell due to his mask always being on his face. He stared at numerous screens in their base and was focused on one that had Blake on it. From the looks of the picture, she looked to be doing well for herself... that traitor. It took every ounce of willpower not to slice the screen in half the longer he stared it, she had betrayed their cause to go play hero with a Schnee. The Lieutenant came in the room and saw Adam staring at the screen and snapped his fingers to grab his attention.

"What?" Adam asked heatedly.

"Our scouts have returned." The Lieutenant informed.

"I presume the mission went as planned." Adam asked, hoping it did but scowled when he turned around to see the Lieutenant sigh and shake his head.

"No. One scout has a broken arm and leg with a bullet wound in his knee, he most likely won't survive the next few hours. The other is traumatized past the point where she can't even function right, it's a miracle we've even been able to get something out of her." He said.

"What did she say and where is the third scout?" Adam asked.

"I'm getting to that. She said that the boy with the golden helmet took the three of them down faster than what they could handle. She then informed that he skinned the last scout. We brought the body back and let me tell you, these cuts aren't by an inexperienced man, these are by a trained killer with years of experience underneath his belt. And I can tell these are next to surgeon level." The Lieutenant said.

"This matters not. Judging by the fact that Blake is close to him, it seems that she cares for him deeply. We rip him away from her then she'll see her mistake and finally pay for her betrayal." Adam said, making the Lieutenant frown a bit.

"I understand that you want to make Belladonna pay for her betrayal but going after him is a mistake Adam." He said.

"And why is that Lieutenant?" Adam asked.

"Because I've been keeping an eye on him through footage. He's not some Atlas marine who can easily be taken down by these 'things' but someone who's been put through the hardships of conflict and had been basked in violence, molded by it even. Plus his skill with that chainsaw is second to none." He said.

"What's your damn point?" Adam growled.

"There's only one person I know that can wield a chainsaw better than me, and that's my trainer." The Lieutenant said. Adam stopped when the Lieutenant mentioned his trainer, aside from knowing that the man was the one that had trained him, he knew nothing. From what the Lieutenant said, he was a man of strong conviction and never stuck in one place for long, a ghost most of the time. But the moment the Lieutenant joined the White Fang he broke all contact with his student and claimed he would have nothing to do with a killer that spilled innocent blood. Adam had sent scouts after the man to look for him and bring him in but those scouts were never heard from again, only their bloody masks and a message written in their blood.

"You can go after him if you want Adam, but know this. If he brings us down because your obsession with Belladonna clouded your mind then I won't follow you anymore. And I won't back down should you try to kill me." The Lieutenant said and began to walk away. Adam stared wide eyed as his most trusted member walked out of the room before he started to growl at the thought of another betrayal. This war was beginning to tear his followers apart, some even considered leaving while others questioned his command.

"You and I will meet soldier. And Blake will finally suffer in a world without you." He snarled and sliced a screen in half that had a picture of Walker and Blake standing next to each other, her smiling wider than she did with him.

* * *

 **Hey everyone, it's been a while huh? Well I have a perfectly good reason for that. If you've been following my other story you'll know as to why but enough about that, I'm here to say I've come in terms with it and doing slightly better now, still not in my prime though because it's going to take a bit of time. I really just wanted to thank you guys for sticking with me this whole time, it really means a lot. If the chapter doesn't meet your expectations then I'm sorry and you'll just have to deal with it but I believe that we have some reviews to discuss.**

 **jkdelta38: Thanks for the review, appreciate the feedback.**

 **Ronmr: And concerned you should be, thanks for the review.**

 **espacole: I'm pretty sure nobody from Sera wants to go through another war, much less pick up a weapon after the years of bloodshed, but thanks for the review.**

 **DigitalPh33r Fan: Here's another chapter.**

 **Guest: Chill man, some will meet their end. I just started.**

 **Well that's all everyone, if you have complains then keep them to yourself and just enjoy the content I'm pushing out, so I'll see you all later and have a good one everyone.**


	14. Chapter 14: You can't save them all kid

**Chapter 14: You can't save them all kid, not even yourself.**

The halls of the academy were bustling with activity, ranging from students going to their classes to teachers making last minute preparations for the lessons ahead. Only a hand select individuals were casually walking to the mess hall to grab some lunch as they took the day off. It was one of the days that they enjoyed the most, relaxing after completing a mission successfully, and managing to keep themselves alive. All the Gears casually entered the mess hall and greeted the lunch lady as they received their food for the day and began to make conversations with one another, whether it be simple jokes or little competitions they would play with one another. Currently, they were all crowded around Walker as he played the knife game with Jaune, placing his hand over his and stabbing the knife in between the spaces quickly.

"I have all my fingers, the knife goes chop chop chop. If I miss between the spaces my fingers will come off. And if I hit my fingers, the blood will soon come out. But in all the same I play this game cause that's what it's all about." He sang as he stabbed the spaces, then increased his speed. "Oh, chop chop chop chop chop chop. I'm picking up the speed. And if I hit my fingers then my hand will start to bleed!" He finished by stabbing a narrow gap. Jaune shakily looked down and raised his hand to see it perfectly fine then give a nervous laugh when he realized that none of his fingers were gone. Everyone clapped as Walker bowed and sat down to finish his meal.

"I want to play!" Nora shouted and grabbed Ren's hand.

"Nora, wait-" His plea fell on deaf ears as she started to do the same thing as Walker but at a slower pace, but instead of tapping the table she slammed it with his knife. Ren's eyes were wide as saucers as he watched the knife slam against the surface roughly. Everyone else sat on the edge of their seats as they watched it unfold in fascination and slight anxiety. Ren almost shouted when Nora sang loudly and slammed the knife on the table for the final time, sending it through the wood. He whipped his hand from her grasp and sent her a glare as she just flashed a smile at him. Everyone else laughed at the interaction before finishing their meals and heading back to their rooms for the next day. Walker walked alongside Blake while she just read a book and stepped over a fallen soda can, ignoring it and continuing to read.

"You ever going to read something else other than that book?" He asked.

"No, why are you heading to the public shower?" She asked.

"Public? Blake, this is my room." He said. She looked up and jumped in surprise when she indeed saw that this was his room, how long had they been walking?

"I thought this was the showers." She muttered.

"Nope... unless. You want to take a shower with me?" He asked, tilting his head. Her face flushed read and she blinked at him.

"W-what?!" She cried out with a red face.

"I don't believe I stuttered, I said do you want to take a shower with me?" He asked again, silently smirking behind his helmet.

"W-well, not really but uh..." She drawled, flinching when he let out a laugh and wrapped his hand around her shoulder.

"I'm just kidding Blake. But you are welcome to use my shower if you want, I'll just wait out in the hall." He said.

"No, it's okay. But uh... can you just keep this between us please? I don't want the others to get any assumptions." She said quietly.

"Yeah, there's a spare towel near the sink. Is there a reason why you aren't using yours?" He asked.

"Yang broke the faucet after Ruby used the hot water. She thought that if she used her semblance to heat up the water then it would work, turns out she ended up melting the knobs and made us go to the public showers instead." She replied while twitching her eyebrows in agitation.

"And why aren't you going there?" He asked.

"Because believe it or not, this school is full of perverts. Just the other day Gwen found out some guy was spying on her, which in turn made everyone else have second thoughts and hunt the guy down." She said.

"That was you all?! I had to explain to the General why one of his students was in the hospital, fucking hell if you told me that then I would have handled it." He sighed.

"We're big girls and boys Walker, we can handle it." She huffed.

"Alright, alright. If you say so." He chuckled and sat on the bed as she just rolled her eyes and entered the shower. Once she entered it she noticed that the bathroom was considered to be luxury compared to theirs; it had a rain fall shower head and with gleaming silver for the faucets and shower head. The walls were black and shiny, like an onyx color, and the sink was a smooth stony finish. In short, it made her jealous. Well, this _was_ one of the perks for being the leader of highly trained individuals that were worth an entire squad of marines by themselves. Even more so since you're the one that had killed locust that probably went into the thousands by now and the scars on your body could prove that you were a survivor and ruthless fighter.

"Still though, this is a tad bit unfair." She pouted and turned on the hot water, breathing in relief when the warm water impacted her body. She scrubbed her hair with the shampoo for a minute then rinsed it. Her body was scrubbed clean for a few minutes before she turned the water off and opened the glass door to look in the mirror. Both of her cat ears flicked widely to rid themselves of water and smiled when she was finally free of her cloth restraints, it felt so _good_ to finally show the world who she was. To prove that even a faunus can be someone. There was a knock on the door and she threw his towel around her body to open the door, seeing that it was her team standing there with towels in their hands.

"What are you guys doing?" She asked.

"Did you really think we wouldn't notice you not come back to the dorm? Think again Blakey." Yang said before Weiss pushed her out of the way.

"What the big oaf is trying to say, we've come to use the shower also because 'someone' decided to use her semblance in there and break the faucet." Weiss said sarcastically.

"Hey, I said I was sorry! Are you really still mad at me for that?" She asked.

"Yes, and I absolutely refuse to go near those public showers where that creep spied on Gwen. Seriously, how is it that Atlas allows these kind of actions? We're supposed to be the most strict in privacy." Weiss murmured.

"I don't know, but all I know is that I call first dibs on Walker's shower!" Yang exclaimed and pushed past everyone, much to Ruby and Weiss' chagrin, to enter the shower. The three were left in Walker's room in silence as they listened to the shower before Blake finally spoke up.

"Where's Walker?" She asked.

"He had to make a call to Rachel." Ruby said.

"Really?" Blake asked.

"Yeah, turns out she's been calling him every few days to a week whenever she has a problem. He said she sometimes calls him just to talk and see how he's doing, to which she views him as another older brother." Weiss said. Blake nodded and sat on his bed as did the other two, all three of them immediately noticed that it was much more comfy than theirs, it must have been memory foam because it wrapped around their bodies snugly. Yet another thing that signified that the General had specifically set up for him and not them, while their beds were soft they weren't compared to his at all. To them, his was like luxury.

"Why is everything in his room so much better than ours? I want beds like these." Weiss pouted.

"I don't know, but I'm sleeping here tonight." Ruby said and leaned back into the bed, shifting around as the foam wrapped around her body.

"Sorry girls, can't sleep here tonight. We have a lead on a possible locust weapons site." Walker said as he entered the room and put his scroll near the laptop before opening it and began typing on it. Ruby and Weiss gaped at him not even caring if Blake was half naked.

"You're not even going to give Blake the decency to change?" Weiss asked.

"Nothing I haven't seen before." He said nonchalantly and continued to type. They both looked at Blake's burning red face as she just hid it in her hands. "Not to mention I've seen Ruby in a towel already." He added, much to the young reaper's embarrassment.

"W-what? So you have no shame?" Weiss asked incredulously.

"Weiss I've been naked in front of numerous people. I've lost my sense of shame the moment I got out of basic training; the only reason I didn't make you all do it is because I want you be huntsman and huntresses, not soldiers." He said and opened up a message that was from Roman, indicating that a storage of weapons and ammunition was prepped for the academy students.

"Oh, well I guess Yang and I are the only exceptions." Weiss said thankfully.

"Not anymore~" Yang said from the doorway. The others looked and widened their eyes when they saw her in one of his towels and a coy smile on her face while leaning on the door frame with her hair soaking wet.

"Yang! Where are your clothes?!" Ruby shouted then covered her face with her hood.

"Xiao Long! What is wrong with you?!" Weiss shouted.

"Oh come on girls, Blake's not wearing anything and you don't get on her case." Yang pointed towards Blake.

"That's because I wasn't thinking at the moment and didn't really expect to take a shower here, you on the other hand anticipated this and didn't bring your clothes on purpose." She said.

"That's where you're wrong kitty. I did bring my clothes, tada!" Yang cheered and revealed a set of clothes in her hand.

"Good, now put them on Yang. Turns out the General wants to speak with us." Walker said.

"Oh come on Walker, you aren't at least tempted to look at these puppies?" She flirted and crossed her arms. He didn't say anything and just stood up to look at her before walking up to her and ramming his helmet in her chest, making her eyes widen then her face heat up.

"There, now that I've proceeded to embarrass you get dressed and meet me in the planning room. That goes for all of you, don't keep me waiting or you'll receive the same treatment." He deadpanned and walked out of the room. Once he left the room the others looked at Yang and could swear they saw steam coming out of her ears before she fell on the bed and screamed in the mattress.

"You still want him to look at those 'puppies' Yang?" Blake smirked.

"Shut up!" She shouted with a muffled voice. Weiss and Ruby laughed loudly as they sat in Walker's room for a minute before taking turns in his shower, both of them internally pouting at the luxurious setting of his room compared to theirs and made it a goal to renovate theirs when they return home.

* * *

The Gears all entered the General's office and stood on either side with their combat gear on and their weapon's clamped to their backs. They had arrived ahead of time and were silently waiting for Walker to finally enter the elevator, once he arrived they turned their attention to General as he sat at his desk before looking at them.

"You wanted to see us sir." Walker said.

"That's right Lieutenant, as you know your influence has made itself known all over Atlas." Ironwood said as he pulled up numerous videos of the Gears fighting alongside soldiers, dragging wounded ones to safety, saving civilians, and taking out high value targets. But a couple of pictures caught the attention of everybody; it was a picture of Walker with a wounded faunus over his shoulder in a fireman's carry position with his lancer in his right hand and firing into a horde of wretches. Then there was another one where he was over a hill while other marines took cover but he stood up firing into the horde without fear. The final picture was taken of somebody at base of him with multiple marines gathered around him as he showed them a map.

"I understand that these are our achievements but what is this really about?" Walker asked politely, he didn't need to be praised for doing something he should be doing in the first place.

"The council had gotten word and seen the footage of your Gears in action and have taken an interest in you all. They wish you speak with you all later in the future and see if you are willing to spread your program to Atlas." Ironwood said. All of them stopped and looked at Walker as he stared at Ironwood and tapped his leg for a minute.

"I'll consider it but if I do this then I want full command over them, they answer to nobody but their designated commanding officers, you, Ozpin, and I." He said.

"We will discuss it once we meet but there is something that I must discuss with you and Ms. Schnee." Ironwood said.

"What is it sir?" She asked.

"It is sort of a private matter, one that I'm not comfortable discussing in front of everybody." He said, looking at them apologetically. Walker took this as a cue to send everyone out of the office.

"Relax, read, shower, do whatever you must do as of right now. We have a mission tonight alongside a few of the marines, you have your orders. Now carry them out." He instructed as they gave a unified salute and eventually left the room with the exception of Weiss and Walker. Both looked at the man and saw that he was breathing deeply while pressing his fingers against his temples.

"I'm going to give it to you straight. Jacques Schnee wishes you two to come to the manor. Weiss, for you to come home and Walker, for you to finally get antiquated with him." He said.

"What if I don't?" Walker asked.

"Then he won't fund your program nor provide Dust for the students." Ironwood said.

"So father is willing to deny countless huntsman and huntresses supplies if Walker doesn't show? That sounds highly unlikely of him." Weiss crossed her arms.

"Those are his words, not mine. He also wishes for you to come home because of your s _afety_ _._ " He said.

"Okay I'll admit, that is bullshit." Walker said, not even flinching when Weiss slapped his arm glared at him.

"Care to elaborate?" She said.

"When was the last time he's called you? Never. From the time I've been here, I've never seen you stand up to take a call from your father or mother, only Winter. And from the way you described him and his attitude, he only cares about profit or reputation. If he or your mother really cared about you then they would try to contact you." He said. Weiss seemed to take that to offense and her face started to heat up.

"They do care about me Walker." She argued.

"No they don't, caring parents try to connect with their children and support them. The only thing your father had probably done was give you funding for tuition, and you've never mentioned your mother doing shit for you. Point is Weiss, they don't care about you. Going to this stupid manor is a complete waste of time and we're better off doing missions and helping end this war." He said.

"No it's not Walker! We can't just keep doing missions all the time! Just because you're comfortable with risking your life doesn't mean I am!" She shouted.

"It's better than going to that rich fuck's manor and wasting our time!" He shouted, not even caring if the General was right there at this point. Why couldn't she see that they didn't need that bastard, they had all the resources from the grubs. Weapons, ammunition, hell even resources if they were lucky enough.

"We're not wasting our time! If you had just tried to listen to us and not be so caught up in your own self pitying then you wouldn't have a problem with this!" She shouted, poking his chest.

"You think I want to be like this?! You think I wanted to be a violent depressing walking tower of shit?! News flash Weiss, I can't fucking help it! From the moment I've been on Remnant I've done nothing but fight! I had to leave my little brother behind with no family left to look up to! You have any idea what it's like to leave the only family you have left?! I fight this fucking war so I can get back to him!" He shouted in her face. Usually she would back down when he raised his voice but her time in training had taught her otherwise. He was disrespecting her father as if he knew the man personally and that irked her to no end.

"So you weren't fighting to rid the locust from Remnant! You were fighting to leave us behind!" She screamed.

"For fuck's sake Weiss! Why won't you listen!?" He asked.

"Because I don't want to take advice from someone who's lost himself because he can't get over his own father's death!" She shouted then clamped her mouth shut. All went silent as she said that, even Ironwood didn't dare say a word. He knew that talking about the boy's parents was a danger zone and Weiss had ran through it without a thought in the world.

"Walker-" Ironwood tried but stopped when Walker raised his hand.

"You think I'm giving you this advice because it's a joke? Then think again Schnee. I'm giving you this advice because I've had enough friends who's parents were like that; you want to know what they did to their kids once they saw the use of them gone?" He asked in a cold tone. She was afraid to answer and just shakily nodded her head. "They sent their children to war. If they came back alive then they saw use for them in the family and if they died... well you get the picture. Point is Schnee, I usually give advice to help people so they don't make the same mistakes but seeing as to how you don't need anymore because you know everything then I'll let you figure it out what's it's like to fall." He said harshly and began to walk past her but stopped and shoved a few COG tags in her chest. She shakily looked down and widened her eyes when she saw that there were over eight of them. She looked back at the elevator and saw it close before falling to the ground. If she would have just listened to him then he wouldn't have given up on her, he wouldn't have shown her these.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly and looked at each one carefully, noticing that each one was still in mint condition which indicated that he was keeping them clean to keep the memory of his friends alive. All Ironwood could do was sigh deeply and shake his head before standing up and walking in front of her, offering her a hand. She accepted it and wiped her tears as she stood up.

"Weiss... I'll admit that you crossed the line." He said which made her look down further in shame. "But you didn't know did you?" He asked her, to which she shook her head.

"I knew his father died." She murmured.

"His mother died also." He said and watched as she whirled her head around to look at him. "Ozpin sent me the video of all the recorded data that he had collected and let me tell you. The boy had experienced enough loss to make a veteran marine give up his life, he's made more mistakes and learned from them to make sure they don't happen in the future." He sighed.

"But why didn't he tell us?" She asked.

"Because we think he faces a mental block. He probably feels that if he tells people his problems then he'll get them killed and that's something he doesn't want to happen. We don't know much about him other than the footage he's given us, he's a complete enigma. Even some of our best psychiatrist tried to get him to crack a few weeks ago but all were met with dead ends as to why he shuts everybody off." He said.

"Why are you telling me this?" She asked.

"Because I want you to understand. There are some things you leave unsaid, the topic about his parents are one of them." He said.

"So how do I go about apologizing to him?" She asked.

"A simple apology won't work, you need to prove to him that you can be forgiven." He said. Weiss looked down at the tags and clenched them before looking back up at Ironwood and nodding then walking to the elevator. She had made a mistake and it was time to pay its dues.

* * *

Walker ignored everybody and entered the armory silently. He grabbed his lancer and tested the chainsaw before grabbing his longshot and placing it on his back the grabbed his boltok pistol and placed in on his hip, a One-shot was the next thing he grabbed. His knife was the last thing he grabbed and tested its sharpness before sheathing it and slamming the locker shut, not caring if it dented and proceeded to storm out, making the teams look at him. Jaune quickly ran up to him and proceeded to walk next to him.

"So what are we doing Walker?" He asked but received no answer in response. "Uh... Walker?" He asked again but got a quiet response this time but it was one that slightly haunted him.

"Tell the teams I'm going out for a while and that they should consider this lucky for them. If I don't come back in the next week then consider me dead and I'm placing you in charge of the Gears." He said in a hollow tone and entered the bullhead while Jaune just stood there befuddled. Eventually the others caught up to him and looked at his bewildered face.

"What is it?" Nebula asked.

"He uh... he said that he's going out for a while and if he isn't back in a week then consider him dead and that I'm in charge of the Gears." He said as he stared at the retreating dropship. All of them just stared at the retreating vehicle in confusion as to why their leader would say something like that and hesitantly walked back into the academy, they had faith he would come back; especially two girls. None of them knowing that their leader was delving into his darker side.

* * *

"You sure you want to do this kid?" Ash asked as he piloted the custom dropship. Atlas had given them the vehicle as a sort of token for helping out around the kingdom and customized it more than the standard issue one, not that the pilot was complaining.

"I'm sure. It helps blow off steam and I get to help out around the kingdom." He replied. That wasn't completely true, in truth he needed to kill something; feel the blood between his fingers, the adrenaline coursing through his veins, the sound of gunfire echoing throughout the air, even the sound of flesh being torn from its bone was soothing to him at this point.

"I know it's not my business to pry but what happened? You're usually the first one to greet me when I drop you kids off." Ash asked.

"Shit happened... how long until the drop off point?" Walker asked, changing the subject in a tone that left no room for anymore questioning.

"About an hour, kid I really advise against you doing this. I mean a few days out in the dark zone is considered-" Ash informed.

"Suicide? I know, but I need something to get my blood pumping and being out in that hellhole is enough. So the moment you see me drop then take off and return back to the academy, that's an order." Walker interrupted. Ash glanced behind him and shook his head before continuing the flight course, he really didn't want to go in the dark zone. That place was described as hell itself; communications were scrambled, the locust roamed every street, countless other dangers lurked in the shadows and waited for their next victim, not to mention the countless corpses that littered the ground and drew numerous diseases. In short, it was a fucking nightmare. And the kid wanted to go in by himself for the next few days. One had to be brave, stupid or downright bat-shit insane to do this. Walker was all three in Ash's eyes.

"Coming up on the drop off point kid. Good luck kid and stay safe." Ash said.

"Luck won't get me shit, killing these fucking grubs will. Thanks for the concern though." Walker said as he threw the survival bag and the One-shot down then jumped off the ramp and rolled forward before quickly grabbing the bag and the One-shot and looking around for a building to camp in for the next few days. As he walked throughout the dark streets he couldn't help but notice the state it was in, skyscrapers were on fire, cars were overturned, power was out and left no heat, and bodies were sprawled out on the ground. This was just like his very first mission when he had to save the hospital. Only there was no saving civilians or gears, only his lonesome self and the storm that rages in his mind that prompts him to kill. If anything he should be thanking Weiss for pushing him to this point. It means he can truly let loose without anyone judging him by how brutal he's being.

"Finally able to let loose." He chuckled to himself as he eventually found an apartment building. It was two stories tall and had the entrance blocked by what seemed to be a mass of furniture in what looks like a barrier, it would have to do for now until he found a more stable place. Moving the furniture aside and his stuff inside, he placed it back and walked upstairs to find a room locked but that was solved by a quick kick to near the handle which sent it flying open. The apartment itself wasn't even that big but it wasn't too small either. Just big enough to where he could stay comfortably because he wasn't living here forever but staying here until either he or Weiss were ready to see one another, and judging by how Weiss was it was clear he wasn't ready to see her.

Enough thinking about her though, right now he needed to set traps just in case the locust discovered him. He went downstairs with his survival bag and set it down before taking out its contents. The first things were six glass bottles that were filled with fired dust, a ball of string, cigarettes, and matches. He then tied the string to either sides of the doorway and then tied knots around the bottles then hung them up before opening the cigarette package and cleaning one of them out of the tobacco, then proceeded to place a match inside the paper lining and placed the new concoction inside the rest of the match box. After he was finished with that he tied them on the string and watched as it dangled from the string strung across the entry way, relishing in the fact that it was hidden from the outside view. In all, he was proud that he managed to make a homemade bomb with a few grocery items and that it was hidden well enough.

"Now to get some shit done." He said to himself and brought the bag upstairs and pulled out his journal, writing a series of objectives for him to accomplish in the next few days. First, bring the power back online. Second, kill any locust between him and the closest radio tower. Third, send out an open channel indicating that the sector can be cleared. Finally, get back to his Gears and deal with them. The first three things were easy enough but the last one was a little bit difficult, no doubt some higher rank will try to take control of his Gears and use them as cannon fodders. They were his responsibility and he'd be damned if they died because of him and this situation. While he did feel slightly guilty about badmouthing Weiss' father someone had to do it. He was a tyrannical patriarch with no love for his family, only his company, that's not including the fact that he had forced labor on countless faunus citizens and profited off of them. But enough about that, he had objectives that needed to be done.

"Guess I better get going if I want to complete these." He muttered and equipped his weapons while heading downstairs, carefully avoiding the string near the foot of the entrance and walking out into the cold air. The streets were empty and dark as the snow seemed to be a dark color while it blew against him, it truly did seem hopeless as the sight of cars left cold, trash gathered around the streets, and bodies that littered the ground every so often. What truly made this situation worse was the fact that there didn't seem to be a soul around here, only the dead and him that remained silent as ever. He began to wander for a while as he kept a mental note where his current hideout was and kept his guard up as the sound of locust were in the distance. Eventually he found a map and finally pinpointed where he was at the moment, he was near the power plant which made his objective all the more closer. From what he was understanding the locust never destroyed the power plant but just shut it off somehow which meant he could just flip the breaker back on.

As he wandered more throughout the empty snow filled streets he finally came across the power plant and noticed it was silent. Too silent for his liking. Something was wrong, not a single locust in sight nor a soul. It made him uneasy as he walked inside the entrance of it but his uneasiness began to tenfold when he saw locust, human, and faunus bodies strung up by their feet while hanging from the ceiling and a message 'Oum has sent his devils' was written on the wall behind the bodies. As he continued to trek further into the dark power plant he began to notice that there was a massive blood trail leading further into the complex. He began to hear chanting and it began to get louder the longer he followed the trail until he reached a room that was caked in blood and organs and widened his eyes when he saw numerous individuals without shirts and had blood painted on them. A sudden thought came to his mind, a horrible one at that. These were crazies, people who had lost all sanity and found sheer enjoyment in basking themselves in blood of innocents.

This was bad, this was really bad. Not only were there crazies but they were right in front of the breaker room too, not to mention there were hostages that were terrified out of their minds, possibly due to the crazies about to torture them. If he could just get to the breaker room unnoticed then he could leave this hellhole alive and he was about to do that until he heard a cry... a toddler. Could he really be the cause of a child's death to a couple of insane fuckers? A thought like that twisted his stomach in a nasty knot and punched his heart.

"You always told me to keep the innocent safe dad. Looks like I need to man up." He whispered to himself before he started to give quiet breaths that eventually turned to grunts of preparation then finally a feral war cry as he peeked out of cover and fired into the crowd. He caught two of them by surprise and beamed in delight when the lancer rounds tore their skulls into bits before he ducked underneath a thrown butcher's knife and fired at the assailant. The others noticed him and gave crazed laughs before rushing at him with jagged weapons. One of them slashed at him but gagged when he sidestepped and sent his combat knife in their lower jaw, watching as it exited through the top of their skull. He jumped back when one with a sledgehammer swung at him and snarled as he ducked underneath a swing and drop kicked them in the chest before firing a couple rounds into their chest then eventually their skull. More started to advance on him but fell short when he started to fire into the knees and immobilizing them before finishing them off with a few rounds to the head.

"GET THE OUTSIDER!" One of them bellowed from the top balcony but found their head missing when Walker sent a sniper round whistling through the air and into their skull, making it rupture in a shower of bloody viscera. The toddler's cry rang out through the complex and prompted him to fight harder, he was sent sprawling across the ground when one of them managed to hit him in the helmet with a pipe and leaped at him. He rolled out of the way and kicked the pipe to the side before rolling backwards when it was sent to his stomach; his pistol was equipped and he fired a shot into the man's kneecap, making him howl in agony as it sent bone fragments and blood on the ground. The man screamed some more before he was silenced when Walker ran up to him and curb stomped his skull, sending even more blood on the ground.

"THAT'S FAR ENOUGH BOY!" A big crazy shouted, making Walker whirl around to see the large man carrying the infant with a knife up to its throat.

"Put the kid down!" Walker ordered while aiming his lancer at the crazy.

"I don't think so boy! You come here when we're preparing for our feast?! You done fucked up now! So I'll tell you what, I'll let this kid go if I can eat your organs and fuck your skull!" He laughed crazily. Was this man serious? Not only was he a psychotic person but he was also a cannibal also? None of this sat right with him, if anything it drove his inner demons to rip this bastard apart and tear his life away slowly.

"I'll tell you what fuck-o. You let the kid go and I won't have to proceed to gouge out your eyes and make you watch as I mutilate your corpse!" Walker shouted while gripping his lancer tightly. His anger skyrocketed when he saw the deranged man laugh some more before raising the knife and sending it plummeting down towards the infant. Time seemed to slow down for him as he raised his lancer and fired a single shot towards the man's sheen, hearing the bone snap from the bullet and watching as it exited through the back of his leg. He quickly rushed up to the screaming man and kicked him in the chest, the tiny infant was ripped from his grasp and into Walker's as he jumped back to gain distance while quickly scanning to see if the little newborn was injured. His eyes widened in absolute bloodlust when he saw a small incision near the infant's forehead and carefully set it down near the other hostages before throwing his weapons to the side and charging at the man. He was still recovering until he felt a bone crushing force slam into his chest and was carried through a door before being thrown across a desk.

"What kind of sick fuck are you!? You're willing to kill a toddler for your own sick desires?!" Walker shouted as he literally pounced on the man and sent a fist to his face. The man didn't even have to time to answer as he felt more fists impact his face and began to slowly cave it in. He began to scream in agony as Walker pressed his thumbs in his eye sockets and repeatedly slammed his head into the ground, not caring if a loud crack was heard. Walker then proceeded to grab his arm and slowly rip it off, eventually the arm was torn from its socket and he began to savagely beat the insane person to death with his own arm, not caring if the man's skull was already beginning to cave in. After a while all he was beating was the mushy pile of brain matter and skull fragments with the mutilated arm before he calmed down. His breathing was heavy as he just stared at the mutilated corpse then at his bloody hands before backing up and leaning against the wall, eventually sliding down it and slapping his head against it. Already seven months into the war and people were beginning to lose their fucking minds, not even Sera dipped down this far. His vision flickered and he saw Skorge's mutilated body in place of the psychotic man's instead.

"Heh...hehehe...ahahahahahahaha!" He began to laugh loudly while curling up in a ball. This was supposed to be a simple objective yet it turned into a fucking nightmare in half an hour, it couldn't be anymore humorous! But... something snapped him out of his laughing fit. It was the cry of that toddler again but it was also the muffled struggling of the hostages. He walked out of the office to see the infant swaddled up in the tiny bundle while one hostage was struggling to get to it, by the looks of it she was trying her damnedest to get free. She stopped when Walker stood in front of her and stared at her while she just did the same but clenched her eyes shut when he brought out his combat knife. As she waited for her death to come right now she couldn't help but feel nothing, eventually opening her eyes to see her hands cut free and turned to see Walker cut the rope from the other hostages and backing up. He watched as she wasted no time to snatch up the tiny child to calm it down by her cooing. The others warily looked at Walker as he stood a ways away.

"Who are you?" One of them asked.

"Someone just passing by." He replied.

"Why did you save us?" Another asked.

"Figured I'd do some good, plus I couldn't let you all be killed by these crazy fucks." He said. They seemed relieved that he wasn't another crazy trying to kill them.

"Well thank you. I thought that they were going to die." The woman with the infant breathed.

"Yeah. Do you all have a safe place you can relocate to?" He asked.

"Not anymore. It was raided by those fucking crazies before we were kidnapped... I can't believe I worked with them." A man muttered.

"So they worked here?" Walker asked.

"Yeah, good men too." The man muttered.

"Do you happen to know how to get this station back online?" Walker asked.

"Yeah, I just need a minute to get everything back online. They shut it down the moment those things popped up, figuring that if we shut this down then they wouldn't be able to see us." The man replied.

"Good, do it then. Is there any radio stations around here that I can use to send a broadcast?" Walker asked.

"No but if I get the power back online then we can send one from here. It should be able to reach the General." The man said.

"Do it." Walker said and the man nodded before heading around a corner and the sound of systems being rebooted was evident. The woman with the kid walked up to him.

"Why did you really save us?" She asked.

"Like I said before, I was just passing by to turn on the power." He replied.

"No one just passes by and decides to save us. By the looks of it, you're in the military." She said.

"Or a forgotten one." He muttered quietly before turning away from her then glancing back. "You should get some rest, I'll keep watch." He added while stepping out of the room and looking at his scroll. He saw that there were messages before he left from everyone, asking where he was and what he meant by leaving for a few days. As his fingers trailed over the touch pad a thought came to mind, he didn't have any service which meant he was left in the dark for now but not for long as the sound of everything up and running. Once the four bars near the top of the screen came up, he was literally flooded with messages. About seventy to be exact, which in turn made him sweat drop.

"Hey uh... kid?" A hostage asked.

"Yeah?" Walker asked back.

"Do you have any service in here? We want to get out of this hellhole." The hostage said tiredly. He looked and saw that there were four of them that looked absolutely haunted by the current events, one of them even looked close to ending it right here.

"Yeah, just let me contact the General." Walker said and looked at each one as they nodded. He turned around and clicked the side of his helmet. "General, this is Walker. I've managed to get some power restored in this district of the dark zone with the help of a few hostages." He informed.

"You do realize you've gone AWOL right lieutenant?" Ironwood asked.

"You gonna court martial me?" Walker asked back.

"By law I should. But you've managed to do something that we haven't been able to do in the past few months, and that's restore power in that district." Ironwood sighed.

"There's civilians also... they need psychiatric evaluation asap though." Walker said as he glanced back at the four.

"Understood, but Walker. You need to understand something. What you did goes against what you had promised us, you claimed that you wouldn't act against orders yet here you go on a suicidal mission all because of an argument." Ironwood said.

"You know more than anybody else that my parents are off limits. Yet Schnee used my dad as a tool against me." Walker said lowly.

"I would prefer you use her first name Walker." Ironwood said.

"She lost my respect for me to use her first name the moment she brought my dad into this. She wants to gain it back then she'll have to work for it." Walker said. He didn't hear anything for a minute before Ironwood sighed deeply and finally spoke.

"And she will Walker. But she regrets it more than anything." He said.

"..." Walker was silent for a while before he finally spoke, but in a cold calculating voice that sounded hollow. "What's the earliest you can get a evac bullhead here?" He asked.

"Two days near the entrance, four if the locust attack our transport. In the meantime see if you can dig anything else up in that district. There's no telling what went down when the zone fell." Ironwood said.

"Understood, see you in two days General." Walker said and cut the feed before Ironwood could reply. He turned back to the hostages and saw them looking at him.

"Can we finally leave?" A girl asked.

"Yeah, in two days if we're lucky. Four if there's a hindrance." He replied, checking the time to see it was getting late. "Alright we need to move. Stick close, don't fall behind, and whatever you do... do not make a sound." He warned them. They all nodded and followed him outside and into the cold ominous streets of the once great kingdom.

* * *

They had finally arrived at the safe house with some difficulty. Apparently one of them kicked a can in front of a locust patrol and forced him to fight them but a bullet grazed near his collar and tore off a small piece of flesh, it wasn't fatal but it needed to be treated to asap. As the hostages spread out around the apartment, he went into the bathroom with his bag and brought out the first aid kit. His chest armor was thrown to the side with a loud thunk and he took off his shirt then stared in the mirror. God his body was fucked. Bullet, stab, slash, burns, and bite wounds littered it. Making him look like a walking scarred mosaic.

He looked in the mirror as he cleaned both wounds, one of the crazies got lucky and stabbed him in the forearm but it didn't start hurting until his adrenaline started to fade away, after that it was almost unbearable. The grazed wound didn't take too long to tend to but his forearm? It needed stitching. Something he dreaded the most when he was getting fixed for what seemed like the thousandth time.

"Alright Walker, nothing too bad. Just sticking some suture thread in your skin as if you were a loose button." He said to himself, biting his lip in pain as he began. This hadn't been done in a long time and he didn't have any anesthetics, so it was fucking horrible, every second of it. It took him seven minutes overall to complete it and he damn near shouted profanities when he could feel the stitches tug. The thing that made it worse was when he poured alcohol on it, just to be safe because you never know. He walked out of the bathroom and into the living room to see three of the civilians asleep while the mother was the only one awake, feeding her child. She noticed him after a while as he sat down in a nearby chair and leaned it back while muttering profanities.

"Thank you." She said after a few minutes of silence.

"Don't sweat it. It's my job as a Gear to do this kind of stuff." He said tiredly.

"So you're one those elites?" She asked.

"Elites?" He asked, not even bothering to look at her due to his fatigue.

"Yeah, when Atlas got word of your deed with the councilman's son they looked further into your program in Vale. So I was wondering if you were one of them." She said.

"Sure... you know who I am?" He asked.

"Walker Ronin, winner of the Vytal festival Grimm challenge." She said.

"Yep." He slurred.

"So are you one of the them?" She asked. It was silent for a minute until she looked and noticed him asleep in the chair, fighting for the past few hours really must have taken a toll on him. It wasn't the fighting that tired him out but the mental strain that had occurred in the past day, with Weiss and her disrespectful comment to the psychotic survivors that almost ate a couple of civilians, it was too much. Though he could handle it. He's handled worse... like Skorge.

.

.

.

Morning came and he woke up slowly to hear the sound of sizzling nearby, looking around to see the civilians near the kitchen eating some food. It took a minute for them to notice him but when they did they were surprised to see him up.

"Oh, you're up. You want some food?" One of them asked.

"I'm fine." He waved and walked near the bedroom to grab his bag, opening it and taking out a MRE. Silence basked over him as he clicked the side of his helmet and let out the compressed air before tilting his helmet up and eating silently, feeling the food fill his stomach and give him the necessary nutrients he needed. Honestly it didn't taste too bad in his opinion, but to others it was horrible. They just didn't know what it was truly like to go a few days without something to eat and will know soon enough, all it took was time. After eating for a few more minutes in silence he sighed and pushed his helmet back down before cleaning up and walking out of the room. The civilians greeted him with a wave while he just nodded and grabbed his weapons before walking to the door.

"What are you doing?" A girl asked.

"Going out to see if I can get some more info on what happened here. Stay here, lock the door, and keep quiet. I'll be back in a few hours." He said in a robotic tone.

"Wait! Let me come with you." She said.

"No. I'm not risking a civilian's life because she wants to tag along like a sidekick. This isn't a game nor a field trip, this is a combat zone and we're smack dead in the middle of it. Don't try and be a hero because there are none in wars." He countered and left without another word, leaving her gobsmacked before sighing and sitting down.

"I was just trying to help." She muttered.

"Don't blame him. He's just doing what it takes to keep us safe, if anything I'm glad he did tell you to stay." The man said.

"Why?" She asked.

"Because it means he's a good soldier and is doing his job right." He said.

"But what about him? It's clear he doesn't need to go out there." She said.

"He has orders from the General. I heard the last bit of their conversation, so he really doesn't have a choice." He said.

"...I guess you're right." She sighed quietly and sat on the couch next to the mother, awaiting for Walker's return but they didn't hear the heavy breathing outside.

* * *

Walker roamed the streets in pure silence while blood caked the bottom of his boots and left a bloody trail in the snow. This was his fourth firefight of the day and it was only one in the afternoon, which meant he had three hours left until the evacuation bullhead arrived. Already he felt like shit after leaving the warm confines of the safe house. He had been investigating for the past few hours and discovered that the power in one district wasn't going to be up for a while due to it being infested with serapedes that decided to make their home there. Now he may be slightly insane, sometimes stupid, and incredibly brave but he knew when some things were better not dealt with alone, and a nest full of those huge centipedes was one such occasion.

There were a lot of things he wasn't afraid of, most of the things on Sera, but if there was one thing he hated and refused to go near were those creatures. Not only were they fifteen feet long but they could spit acid, had a nearly indestructible carapace, and discharged electricity from their pincers. Fuck that.

"I should head back to the safe house." He said and began to trek back, 'accidentally' stepping on a Drone's body and continued to walk. There were a lot less locust than what he had imagined to be honest, they must not think that this part of the city was important which worked out in his favor. He shook his head from those thoughts when a sense of dread washed over him which made him pick up the pace, then start to jog, before he began to quickly run as fast as his legs could carry him.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" He shouted as he continued to run and skidded around the corner where the safe house was. Only to widen his eyes in horror when he saw the complex on fire and the sound of locust giving terrible roars as they retreated from the area. Flames licked the edges of the windows as the screams of the civilians were heard. He shouted in desperation as he entered the building and avoided the flames while rushing upstairs and kicked the door open. A part of the ceiling crashed down in front of him and made him back up. Looking around to see the flames devour everything, he saw in the corner of the room near the kitchen the mother and her toddler. She caught sight of Walker and gave him a panicked look as he looked around to find a way to get to her. Both were losing time and the child was beginning to cough from the smoke while the ceiling began to crack as the flames chewed away the material. He saw her look at him then at her child before giving the saddest smile he's ever seen before she threw her toddler towards him. He caught the toddler safely and tried to reach out to her but watched as the ceiling caved in and fell on her, burying her in a fiery grave.

"F-fuck." He muttered and quickly rushed out of the building before seeing it collapse from the flames. As he stood in the cold street while holding the soot covered toddler, he felt like shit. Not the I feel like shit for now but the kind that haunts you for the rest of your life. Because of him, three innocent people were killed, because of him a toddler would never grow up an orphan. All because he hadn't made sure the area was safe before leaving; HOW STUPID WAS HE TO LEAVE CIVILIANS IN A COMBAT ZONE WITH NO PROTECTION?!

"Pretty fucking stupid." He cursed to himself while holding the kid tight. The poor child was quivering while staring ahead blankly as his portholes reflected the burning inferno in front of them. Both stayed there for a couple of hours just staring at the cinders of the once blazing fire before Walker heard static and Ash's voice come up on the radio.

"Kid, we're here to pick you up. Your Gears are here and they don't seem very happy." He commented.

"...Be there in a minute." Walker replied quietly and began to slowly walk towards the place the bullhead was at. After a few minutes of walking in the cold he finally saw the ramp open and the Gears spread out in defensive positions, shooting him an agitated glance before entering it when he did. As he sat down in the corner and set the child down next to him, he set his lancer in a standing position and had his hands wrapped around the barrel while his forehead rested against it. He could just feel everyone's eyes on him but at the moment he couldn't care in the slightest nor did he want to look up.

"Walker, that wasn't cool. At all." Sun commented.

"..." He didn't reply and continued to have his head against the barrel.

"I have to agree with Sun on this one Walker. What you did made us think differently about you." Octavia said from the corner. They were met with silence and looked over to still see him in the same position, he wasn't sleeping since his porthole lights were still on but were extremely dim. One voice however struck a nerve in him.

"Walker... you shouldn't have gone alone in the first place. What were you thinking?" Blake asked while staring at him.

"You want to know what I'm thinking?" He asked stoically, surprising them.

"Yeah." Jaune said.

"I'm thinking that this world is fucked. That, what the hell is the point of fighting when we're just going to kill each other when times are at their worst." He answered.

"What do you mean? Things couldn't have been that bad in there-" Jaune started.

"Have any of you actually seen in there?" Walker interrupted before standing up. Watching as they shook their heads, which made him give a haunting laugh. It started out as a little mirthless laugh before it eventually turned to a full blown psychotic one which made them scoot back and widened their eyes when his porthole lights turned yellow.

"W-Walker?" Ruby asked.

"Let me fucking enlighten you then! It's horrific! My first few hours were immediately swarmed with enough blood to make the Grimm shit themselves! I went to go turn on the power and came across a bunch of psychos about to cannibalize some civilians! They were fucking killing people and eating their bodies! I smashed a man's skull in after he threatened this kid's life with a butcher's knife. Those civilians that helped me burned to death and I had the 'pleasure' of listening to them scream in agony. How many people died on your watch?!" He shouted at them and watched as they recoiled at the news. All of them noticed that the toddler was quivering in fear behind him and tried to stop him but he continued.

"Walker, you need to stop-" Sun tried.

"Shut it Wukong! I'm not finished! Here you all scold me for going in alone in there, yet I don't see any of you risking your lives to do anything for this war! All you've ever done is take orders from me and commanding officers at different bases, do any of you realize how much fucking stress that puts on me when I constantly have to think of a plan to execute without any help?!" He asked them and growled loudly when none of them answered. "FUCKING ANSWER ME!" He roared.

"You're scaring the kid!" Yang shouted as her eyes glowed red. He whirled around and saw the toddler quivering in fear while staring at him. It was silent for a while before his porthole lights turned blue, then eventually dimmed, before they shut off and his body slumped down like a puppet who had its strings cut then fell to the side. All of them looked at him then at each other before basking themselves in absolute silence as they waited for the ride to end, only Ruby was brave enough to sit next to the toddler and calm them down while keeping a wary eye on Walker's still form.

* * *

Ironwood sighed as he looked at Walker's sitting form in the dark room, it hadn't moved from his position for the last few hours. It had been four days since he was in the Dark zone and it was clear he was stressed beyond he let on because this was the first time he's let his anger out on his own soldiers. They had told him that his porthole lights were yellow and before that he started laughing in a way that made them wary. When he reported it to Ozpin and Glynda they decided that coming to Atlas was a good idea but how wrong were they when Walker shut them out. And so here they all stand, looking in the dark room at Walker's still form.

"He needs a break." She said.

"I tried to get him to take one and said that his Gears could handle themselves but he said without him they have no path paved for them." Ironwood said.

"What was he doing beforehand?" Ozpin asked.

"He and Weiss had gotten in an argument and she made a comment about his father then he decided to go into the Dark Zone alone." Ironwood informed, leaning forward when Walker removed his helmet but still had his back facing them.

"What exactly is the Dark Zone?" Glynda asked.

"A major part of the city we lost in the first few weeks of the war. Locust patrol every street, criminals run rampant, and we barely have enough manpower to take back that sector. That doesn't include the fact that the power is out which means communication is down. It's a no man's land out there and I fear that it's only going to get worse if we don't do something." He sighed. Both looked at him then heard a noise to see Walker stand up and suddenly punch the wall repeatedly, making them rush in.

"Walker stop!" Glynda shouted and tried to hold his arm. Ozpin joined in and held his arm but it seemed Walker was in a seemingly berserk mode and kept hitting the wall until the wall started to cave and his knuckle started to make a cracking noise. After a minute of struggling he calmed down and slowly sat down on the chair while looking down on the ground.

"Walker." She said. "Walker, Walker look at me." She said. It took a minute but he finally looked at her then looked down again.

"What were you thinking going in there alone?" She asked.

"I was thinking that the situation was better than what is was but clearly I was wrong. Being in there made me lose a lot of faith in humanity. Both man and Faunus kind." He answered after a minute of silence..

"What do you mean?" Ozpin asked.

"I mean that we're doomed. If it's barely a year into the war and people are already killing each other then who's to say that it won't get worse later?" Walker asked.

"To be fair, you were in a dangerous zone alone for two days. Didn't James inform you about it?" Ozpin asked.

"Yeah, he did. But he never told me that it was that bad. And if it's that bad why aren't we putting more manpower in there than out here where we know it's under control." Walker asked.

"Then the locust would see this as an opportunity to attack and we'd lose more soldiers in there." Ozpin replied.

"That's bullshit." Walker commented.

"Language." Glynda sighed.

"No! I'm not going to watch my fucking language! For the past two fucking days I've failed four innocent people and killed god knows how many psychos, yet everyone here is scolding me for trying to do something for the war!" He shouted and flung the chair across the room. Glynda was about to retort but Ozpin held his hand out as they watched Walker continue to let out his anger. It was clear he was bottling up his emotions for some time now since he's never been this vocal about this.

"When was the last time you've talked to somebody?" She asked.

"Hell if I know. Doesn't matter anyways." He huffed and roughly set the chair back down on the ground and sat on it.

"It does matter because it's clear you're suffering." She said.

"Like I said before. It doesn't matter... I'm either going to be insane or dead by the end of the war anyways." He muttered and walked out the door, ignoring Ironwood and walking towards his room. More of the academy students stared at him but could feel his killer intent roll off his shoulders and paved a path for him. Once he was in his hallway and near his door he saw the girls standing there.

"Walker we need to talk-" Ruby started but yelped when he pushed her out of the way and entered his room, slamming the door with enough force to sent a few splinters flying. They blinked in surprise and stood there for a minute until they heard Jaune and them approach them with SSSN behind.

"Have you guys seen Walker? We wanted to ask him about that final raid on the Theron." Jaune said.

"He's in his room. I would advise against going in there right now." Blake said as she could faintly hear him cursing.

"Why?" Nora asked.

"He's... not in the best of moods right now." She replied.

"I'm sure he's fine." Nora waved. They sweat dropped at her nonchalant attitude before jumping when the sound of crashing and items being broken was evident from the room, there were also loud profanities being thrown loudly that made them cringe. The door was opened when Yang kicked it open and when she did that she immediately regretted it. His room was an absolute mess; furniture flipped over, the light was in pieces on the ground, and he was sitting on the ground holding his bloody arm.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"What do you care?" He asked back harshly, making her flinch.

"We heard shouting and stuff being thrown and came in." She replied.

"More like you burst in. But who cares? More shit to wreck." He chuckled mirthlessly. They all stepped back at his attitude and noticed something wrong.

"You're bleeding." Sun said.

"Holy shit Sun, you get a reward for pointing out the fucking obvious." Walker said sarcastically and stood up to get the first aid out of the bathroom before going back to the spot he was sitting at and began to sew it up. "What do you all want?" He asked suddenly, making them all throw a glance at each other before looking at him.

"We wanted to ask what's our play on the raid of that Theron." Jaune said.

"You all not going to throw those fucking whispers behind my back?" Walker asked.

"We don't know what you're talking about-" Sage started.

"Don't fucking bullshit me. I know for a fact that every single one of you have said something about me going in the Dark Zone." Walker said evenly, pulling at the needle and making his skin stretch grotesquely.

"Walker, we haven't said a thing." Blake said. She flinched when he looked at her then pulled out his scroll.

 _"What the hell is up with Walker?"_ Sun's voice rang out.

 _"I don't know man, but whatever it is I think we should leave him alone."_ Jaune's voice rang out.

 _"Leave him alone? Screw that, ever since he went in the Dark Zone he's been nothing but an asshole to us all. I mean he traumatized a little kid for Oum's sake."_ Neptune's voice said.

 _"But we don't know and he won't tell us so we should just leave it."_ Weiss' voice said surprisingly.

 _"Really Weiss? You're going to ignore the fact that he went alone in that place and didn't contact us? I don't know about you but he's acting like an asshole because of it not to mention-"_ Yang's voice was cut off when Walker shut the scroll recording off and set it down.

"There's plenty more where that came from." He said, looking at them.

"We're worried about you." Ruby said.

"..." He didn't say anything at first but then later replied. "Don't be. Because after the war, I'm either going to be in a psychiatric hospital or in the fucking dirt." He chuckled.

"Why would you say that?" Blake asked with slightly narrowed eyes.

"Because Blake, I'm fucked up and I'm tired. I've dealt with enough pain in my life to put a grown man down and I'm tired of it. Tired of the fighting, the killing, hell I'm even tired of losing people I've cared about because the universe decides that my life is a fucking toy to be played with." He said.

"We can help." She said.

"I highly doubt that... since you all wanted to know about the plan then I'll tell you. We're going to kill every single locust then finally kill it but I want to be the one to do it. The fucker is mine." He said.

"You're claiming kills now?" Scarlet asked.

"That going to be a problem?" He asked before suddenly cracking his neck loudly. Every one of them jumped at the sudden sound and shuddered when he continued to slowly crack it while tilting his head as he stared at them.

"N-nope." Scarlet stuttered.

"Good, now get out." He ordered and they left without hesitation except Blake. He sighed in annoyance as she stood there with narrowed eyes while tapping her foot.

"Why are you still here?" He asked.

"Why are you pushing us away? And don't tell me because you're preparing us." She said.

"It doesn't-" He started.

"Shut up. Stop saying it doesn't matter because it does Walker, why is it that everyone else can see that you're suffering but you?" She asked.

"Maybe because you all are always prying into my business and never leave me alone." He answered.

"Or it's because you can't stand the fact that you failed." She said making him stand up and glare at her.

"You're treading on some mighty thin ice Blake." He said lowly.

"Why, because I'm telling the truth? Weiss was right when she said she doesn't want to take advice from someone who can't get over his father's death." She said. The air around them went silent as she stared at him with an even expression while his face contorted into rage behind his helmet.

"Why is it that you two feel the need to bring him into this? Does it bring you satisfaction to use him as a weapon against me?" He practically snarled.

"No, we're doing it to bring you out of your stupid phase of 'I don't need help from anyone'. Throughout this entire time we've been here in Atlas, you've done nothing but shut us out and go off alone. When was the last time you've gone on a mission with us other than hunting the targeted locust?" She asked.

"I don't need to answer you." He huffed and turned away from her, flipping his mattress on the ground and lying down on it.

"I'm not leaving until you do." She said.

"Then I guess you'll be here all night." He said and set his head down. He felt the mattress bounce a bit and Blake's form lie next to him and turned to see her staring at the ceiling. A few minutes went past until he finally answered her question.

"Never and the reason why I go alone is so I can die with nobody to mourn for me." He answered.

"That's a stupid answer." She said.

"You wanted an answer, so there you go." He said.

"There's more." She said.

"What makes you say that?" He asked.

"You're twisting your thumb around your COG tag." She observed.

"Don't-" He started.

"You say don't worry about it one more time and I'll castrate you." She threatened.

"..." He went silent for a while before he answered. "I'm alone Blake." He said.

"You're not alone." She said.

"Yes I am. What do you, Ruby, Yang, Weiss, and the others have to go back to after the war?" He asked.

"Our families." She answered after a thought.

"What do I have?" He asked. Then it dawned on her; his anger, his depression, his dwindling sanity, his constant need to push everybody away, it all made sense now. He had no one to go back to, not a single familiar face from Sera to welcome him back from open arms or even tell him thank you for your service. Throughout this entire time they've known him he's been the first person on Remnant from another planet but no way to get back, probably being forgotten as of now. He was merely a whisper that had disappeared in the wind.

"Why didn't you tell us about this earlier?" She asked.

"Because I don't like talking about it. I put myself in dangerous situations because it helps me cope, to focus on something else other than my mental pain. I'm alone and I have no one from Sera that I can relate to. Nash is gone, Fred and Kelly probably forgot about me by now, Amelia is with that fucking tool, and my family is either dead or missing. No one on Remnant had gone through what Sera had, you all went through a Great war and got over it and had eighty years of peace. Sera had went through almost a century of fighting each other and had five weeks of peace before being thrown into another war. Point is Blake, we're tired of fighting and me specifically." He said quietly.

"You have us." She said.

"You all will forget about me when I'm dead and gone. You'll find a man and have a few kids, as will the others, while me? I'm going to be in a straight jacket or in a grave somewhere." He sighed, frowning when he felt her slap him and force him to look at her. Her eyes were narrowed with agitation but showed signs of concern.

"Why do you think so low of yourself? You're more than that, we all look up to you Walker." She said. He looked at her unconvinced and sighed before looking around. He was too tired to deal with this at the moment, and sick of it.

"My room is a mess." He sighed.

"And you have only yourself to blame." She said.

"Right... reminds me of when Ajay would throw his toys around." He commented.

"How old was he when he did these types of things?" She asked.

"Two, a few months before Jacinto fell." He said.

"Jacinto?" She asked.

"My home." He replied.

"I thought your home was on the ship?" She asked.

"For the last two years it was. Jacinto fell because we had to sink it, I lost everything there. My home, my friends, even my damn cat." He said.

"You had a cat?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes I had a cat. There a problem?" He asked.

"No, no problem... just didn't see you as a cat person." She murmured.

"Yeah I am. If I wasn't then I wouldn't like your sexy ass." He jabbed while scratching behind her ear.

"S-shut... shut... shu..." She started to drawl before becoming a purring ball of fur the longer he scratched.

"You like this?" He asked quietly.

"Mhmm." She hummed and pushed her head into his hand, while he just looked at her amused.

"What if I stop?" He asked and retracted his hand, making her whine in protest.

"Why?" She asked.

"Because I wanted to." He said. She narrowed her eyes and climbed on top of him and straddled him while he just stared dumbly at her boldness.

"Keep going. Now." She said.

"And if I don't?" He asked cheekily.

"Then I'll get Nora in here to break your legs." She said.

"If Nora enjoys always being next to Ren then she won't." He replied.

"...Fine." She huffed and climbed off of him. "But I'm sleeping in here tonight." She claimed.

"As are we." Ruby said as the others walked in the room and closed the door. She was the first one to climb on the bed, then Yang, and finally Weiss but she hesitated to do so. All he could do was sigh in exasperation as they clung onto him tightly, Blake and Ruby seemed to do this the tightest. It was silent for a while before Weiss finally spoke up.

"I'm sorry." She apologized.

"I'll accept your apology but don't think this puts you on my good side anytime soon Weiss. That goes for the rest of you." He said.

"Why us?" Ruby asked.

"Every single one of you talked about my dad yet you knew that he was off limits." He replied, making them shrink.

"What were we supposed to do to get you out of your funk?" Yang asked.

"Anything but using my family. They are people yet here you all use them as if they were a tool. Never once had I talked shit about them and I've treated them with upmost respect, except Jacques. But you all, talked, spat, and even shit on my family's name as if we were lower than you. " He said evenly, making them shrink even more. If he was making them feel guilty then he was doing a damn good job at it. It began to get to the point where the guilt actually began to weigh them down and lower their heads in shame. They went quiet as time passed and just sat in the dark room with their breaths as the only noise.

"So... are the others in trouble too?" Ruby asked.

"Considering I heard all of you talk about them, yes. Every single one of you is getting smoked until your bodies are jelly." He said and smirked when they audibly gulped in unison.

"H-how long is that?" Weiss asked.

"Three hours, four if you decide to comment." He said. None of them commented on it due to them knowing he was serious and just nodded before falling asleep while he remained awake. As he was about to fall asleep he received a message from Neo, making him scowl.

 _"You up?"_ She asked.

 _"I am now thanks you to."_ He typed.

 _"Good, Roman and I have gotten those weapons you asked for."_ She said.

 _"Why couldn't he have told me himself?"_ He asked.

 _"He's been busy trying to drown himself in alcohol."_ She typed.

 _"Why are you texting me?"_ He asked, straight to the point.

 _"Because you're interesting ;)"_ She replied.

 _"Cool, now can you fuck off now?"_ He asked.

 _"Will you promise to meet me face to face?"_ She asked.

 _"There's no point in talking to you since you can't talk, so no. Now leave me the fuck alone before I found out where you are and rip out your eyes."_ He replied.

 _"I knew there was a reason I liked you. You're feisty, psychotic, and take shit from no one. I like a man who takes charge."_ She said.

 _"My psychosis is not something to be attracted to Neo. Now could you finally fuck off?"_ He asked.

 _"Give me one reason and I'll do it. Or don't we can just talk dirty to each other all night if you're up to the challenge."_ She challenged.

 _"I recently got back from the Dark Zone after killing grubs, psychos, getting innocent people killed, and to top it all off I probably traumatized a toddler because I can't control my fucking sanity. You happy Neo? Are you legitimately fucking happy?!"_ He asked heatedly. The scroll went still for a few minutes before he growled when he got another message, not expecting the response.

 _"I'm uh... I'm sorry to hear that. Honestly, I didn't know you went there. I was teasing earlier, not about finding you interesting because I do, but about the talking dirty. So uh, sorry."_ She typed.

 _"...What time am I going to pick up the weapons tomorrow?"_ He asked.

 _"Don't worry about it, we'll deliver them. So uh... goodnight and bye."_ She said. He didn't bother replying back and threw his scroll on the messy ground, this week had been nothing but a cluster fuck; his Gears disrespecting him, People on Remnant were already killing each other, and to top it all off the war was just beginning. Times like these called for a drink, a strong one at that.

"You can't save them all kid. We're humans like everyone else, you're going to fail once in a while." He repeated what Nash told him before falling into a nightmare filled dream of his past deeds.

* * *

 **Hey everybody, been a minute huh? So here's another chapter that should suffice you all for a while so I can focus on my other stories and school. If you're wondering 'Where the fuck are the other stories Abyss?!' then chill because they should be up by Wednesday or Thursday, Saturday at latest. So fret not. But all in all, this has to be the darkest chapter I've written so far and I feel sort of proud I can steep this low but at the same time not. I've noticed a trend throughout the chapters that Walker's been able to save everyone and that's fine, cool and dandy but... I don't want him to seem like a superhero that can save everyone whenever he's around. He's going to fail every once in a while, because after all he's only human and it's common for us to make mistakes. If you're wondering about Gear deaths then don't bother asking because I have a special surprise in store for you guys next chapter, so without further adieu, let's roll on with the reviews.**

 **Ronmr: Not yet but he's going to. Thanks for the review.**

 **jkdelta38: Maybe they will, maybe they won't, you'll just have to wait until next chapter but thanks for the review.**

 **Eher: Thank you.**

 **Guest: Believe me, I will and thanks for reviewing.**

 **Guest: Sorry but I already have a story requested from someone, so my hands are full. Plus I already have a story where Jaune goes missing then comes back but thanks for the review anyways.**

 **Now that that shit is done and over with. I cannot stress this enough, if you guys are going to shit on my dick about something then please politely leave because I already have enough shit going wrong in my life and I don't need people bitching about my story. So please be respectful and have a goodnight everyone, take it easy.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: Saving kingdoms but losing family**

 ***Tweet***

The sound of a whistle chirped loudly in the training as Walker was watching the Gears get smoked vigorously. Each one of them had thought that they were off the hook after disrespecting his dad, and him. He may have been in the wrong for going in the Dark Zone alone but at least he owned up to the responsibility and accepted his punishment, but them? They shied away from it and brushed it off as if he had lost some of his authority, how wrong they were when he woke them up before the break of dawn and told them to stand in a line, no humor in his voice once so ever. To show how serious he was about smoking them, he did it with them also because in all, it was his fault for provoking them into getting into this mess so it's only fair her does it too.

"I had better not see those feet fall Fox!" He yelled and watched as the blind boy shakily raised his feet and kept them there, face contorting into extreme exertion. For the past two hours they had been getting their punishment without a single break and frankly, it brought a scowl on his face when he saw Yang almost give up, giving her a reason to keep going by threatening to cut her hair and add another thirty minutes to the session. The whistle tweeted again and they dropped on their stomachs and did planks for a few minutes, it tweeted again and they got on their backs and did flutter kicks for a minute. Ruby yelped when she dropped her legs then quickly picked them back up the moment Walker turned his gaze towards her, then gave a nervous smile when it lingered on her for a minute. For the next hour they did more exercises that turned their muscles to jelly before Walker looked at his watch and gave a loud whistle, indicating they can stop.

All of their bodies fell flat on the ground their breaths were quick and short. Something he almost didn't comment on.

"Slow your breaths, and take deep ones." He advised while standing up and stretching while taking deep breaths. They followed his advise and took deep breaths before exhaling slowly then shakily got off the ground as sweat dripped off their forms. All of them looked at him gobsmacked as he continued to stretch a bit then sit down calmly as if this session didn't tire him at all. All of them wore shorts and green shirt while he wore his combat boots and pants but had a white tucked in shirt instead of his tank top.

"H-how the hell are you not tired?" Nebula panted.

"Try doing this for a minute and you'll get used to it. Now I'm going to ask you all again, and you better not give me a bullshit answer. Are you going to speak ill of my family again?" He asked seriously.

"No sir!" They replied in unison. He looked at them for a minute before tilting his head to the door and watched as they all shambled out of the training room and to their own, all while stumbling every few steps. There was the sound of glass breaking and he sighed before turning around to see Neo and Roman standing there.

"What do you two want?" He asked, putting the dumbbell back on the rack next to the correct ones.

"No hi?" Roman asked cheekily.

"I'm not in the mood Roman. Either you tell me what you want or I'm going to tell the General that the deal is off and you two can spend the rest of the war behind bars." He said flatly, making the criminals gulp.

"We wanted to say that the weapons are in the storage room." Roman said.

"How many?" Walker asked, taking a hex bar and putting it in its right place.

"Around sixty Hammerburst, forty Gnashers, and twenty Lancers. There's also some grenades." Roman listed. Walker tapped the bottom side of his helmet and hummed a bit before nodding at them.

"That's acceptable, good job." He said, looking as both of them blinked at his complement.

 _"Did you just complement us?"_ She asked.

"Yeah, that going to be a problem?" He asked.

"No! No, no, no. It's just that we've never been complemented for smuggling weapons before." Roman said.

"Maybe because you two were arming the White Fang in their righteous path for 'equality' when in reality you were arming genocidal sociopaths who can't get past some fucking social issues." Walker said nonchalantly.

"When you put it like that, you make it seem like we were doing something bad." Roman commented.

"You were, you fucking idiot. How many innocent people died because you armed those people? I can tell you, probably going into the hundreds now that you all have the locust weapons. So before you try and play I'm the victim card you had better think twice Roman." Walker said. All Roman could do was blink and straighten his hat a bit in an uncomfortable manner. It seemed Walker was done with them since he walked out of the room without another word, leaving the two alone in the training room.

* * *

Instead of going to the planning room like he had hoped, he went to his own to clean up the mess. The moment the door opened it was like walking into a toddler's room after they had thrown a tantrum; bed flipped over, papers all over the place, his desk was leaning against the wall, and his laptop was on the ground. Overall, it was a mess that needed to be cleaned sooner than later.

"Might as well do this shit." He muttered and began to fix everything back to the way it was before his little outburst. Although it took half an hour to do, it still exhausted him mentally for having to do something this trivial but brushed it off when half the things he did was trivial. He stepped back and finally looked at his room then nodded in content when he saw that it was in good shape, much like how it was before his little rage moment. His scroll buzzed and he checked it to see he received a message from Ozpin stating that Tai and Summer were asking about him.

"Why the hell didn't they just ask me themselves?" He asked annoyed. This week was really beginning to create a massive migraine in his skull, threatening to crack it open and take his brain apart. It went silent for a few minutes before a knock on the door made itself known, making him sigh in slight agitation.

"It's open." He sighed. The door creaked open and he saw Gwen's face peek in but had a slightly sheepish look on it.

"Uh... boss?" She asked, making him scowl at the name. Most of the Gears called him that sometimes and it slightly irked him that they started to do that, but could only shake his head when they continued to do it anyways, after that he stopped caring what they called him.

"What?" He sighed and began to open his closest to change his shirt.

"...That kid is following me again." She said.

"What do you want me to do about it?" He asked.

"Can you talk to him? I know you want to be left alone but we'd rather not put you under anymore stress. But mainly, I just want to avoid hurting the kid because I'm afraid I'm going to kill him this time." She answered. Once again he sighed and put on a shirt before nodding and following her out the door. The two walked for a while as they searched for this supposed stalker of hers. Eventually they found a boy with bright blonde hair talking to a few of his friends about something, bringing his scroll out and showing them a nude picture of Gwen in the shower. All his friends widened their eyes at her figure then looked behind him to see her there and threw her winks but blanked when they saw Walker right behind her, with his arms crossed.

Fear gripped their hearts as they stared at him, they knew that he was the leader of that elite group and judging by the footage they've seen, they were no joke. Killing seemed to be second nature to them. At first they were having a good time with Gwen while throwing the occasional flirts at her but the moment she said she was bringing in her leader they stopped, and it didn't look like she was bluffing either.

"So when I got this picture of her, I backed it up so no matter how many times I break my scroll I'll always have a picture of my love." The boy sighed in relief, then looked up at his friends to see their expressions filled with fear and turned around to see his 'love' behind him and smiled at her but frowned when he saw Walker standing there with his arms crossed. He went to go speak but clamped his mouth shut when Walker snatched the scroll from his hand and snapped it in half effortlessly then stomped on it before turning his gaze to him.

"Let's get one thing straight you little fucking creep. I don't care who you are, what you did, or what you're going to be in the future but what I do care about is the fact that you're harassing _my_ Gear as if she were your personal toy. She's a human being, a lady that deserves respect nonetheless, so I'm going to say it once and only once... leave her alone or I swear I'm going to shove my foot so far up your fucking ass I'm kicking your brain cells back into place." He said lowly and backed up then looked as the other students flinched at his gaze. After they submitted underneath his stoic stare he left the room followed by Gwen shortly after, feeling better now that the boy was finally taking the hint that she didn't like him and found him creepy for stalking her. She noticed how Walker hadn't even attempted to talk to her nor look in her direction, coming to the assumption that he was still mad at them. Which was understandable since they had been whispering behind his back and disrespecting not only him, but his family also.

"Hey uh... Walker?" She asked.

"Yes?" He asked back flatly.

"What's our move on the Theron?" She asked.

"I'll discuss it in the briefing room in three days, until then enjoy your time off." He said. By the sound of his tone one could take the hint that he wasn't in the mood for talking nor was he in the mood to be by anyone and that raised concerns but she sighed and nodded before bidding him a farewell and going the other way while he just went to his room. The door was shut and locked behind him as he turned around only to scowl beneath his helmet when he saw Ozpin and Glynda sitting there on the bed.

"There a reason you two intruded in my room?" He asked in a dead tone as he walked to the closet and looked inside for clothes.

"We need to speak with you Walker." Ozpin said.

"Technically you are." He replied, drawing nothing but silence from the two.

"This is serious." She said.

"Oh I'm aware. I just don't give a shit." He said and got out a shirt and lay it flat on the bed.

"Walker... we know you don't want to talk to anybody but you need to talk. It's beginning to show in your reports." Ozpin said.

"Which part? The part where I'm more distant from everybody, the part where I'm more brutal when I kill a grub, or the part where I traumatized a kid because I can't keep my sanity in check?" He asked.

"All of them." She said.

"Well that's just tough luck. Casualties of war I guess." He shrugged. Both of them furrowed their brows at him then came to the conclusion that whatever happened in the Dark Zone had severely damaged his outlook on Remnant, which wasn't good in the slightest.

"Fine... We called Summer and Tai, they're coming to Beacon once you finish your tour." Ozpin said.

"Tell them to call off their trip. They're just wasting their time if they think I'm going to talk." Walker replied.

"I'm afraid we aren't going to do that Walker. Despite thinking you're fine, you're not. I've seen students go this dark before and they usually go too far off the deep end, I'd rather you not go that far." Ozpin said.

"I'm already off the deep end sir. The only difference between me and your students is that I'm in terms with my dark self, I've come to agree with the fact that I'm broken. But the thing about me is that I can't gather the energy to care anymore." Walker replied. This seemed to annoy them since they both furrowed the brows at him, had the Dark Zone really damaged him that much?

"Walker... what is your opinion on Remnant?" Ozpin asked out of the blue.

"What does this have to do with anything-" Walker started.

"Just answer the question." Ozpin interrupted. Walker stopped and stood there for a second before sitting on the bed and looking down.

"This world disappoints me honestly. Sera had some problems yeah, but at least we've gotten past them and tried to strive for a better future. Here... people are already killing each other and treat this war like it's survival of the fittest. It took Sera fifteen years after the locust emerged to see the world as that. Everywhere I go, there's prejudice on how you look or what you are, rather than what you did. If this is the kind of world I'm fighting for then I'm not sure I want to continue to fight." He said.

"But what if this world were to find someway to mitigate the racism?" Glynda asked.

"Then I'd find a way to keep fighting. I've already dealt with comments saying I'm a dirty faunus lover by a couple of the marines." He answered.

"What was it about?" Ozpin asked.

"I dragged a wounded faunus civilian to safety." Walker answered.

"And what of the marines?" Glynda asked.

"All of them dead except a medic. Serves them right for trying to act like tough shit. Bet they didn't realize the locust don't care about what you look like, extra appendages or not." He chuckled.

"Walker!" She scolded making him wave her off. Ozpin could only frown at Walker's calloused attitude towards people now, he could already tell that if he experienced another event like the one in the Dark Zone then he'd stop fighting for them, something they couldn't afford in the slightest. It was already bad enough that someone younger than the old wizard was disappointed in the world he was fighting for, and he's only been on the world for almost two years.

"While we came to check up on you, we've also wanted to discuss your training program." He said.

"If it's about spreading it to Atlas then I already talked to the General about it. I'm spreading it to Atlas but I'm staying in Vale. If people want to train to become a Gear then they'll travel for it." Walker replied.

"No, it's about the White Fang. Some of them had defected from the group and saw your training as an opportunity to redeem themselves." Ozpin said, making Walker go quiet for a while. It wasn't the fact that there were people that wanted to become a Gear but the fact that White Fang members defected and wanted to become one, something didn't seem right.

"Who's to say they won't use my training then go back into the Fang?" Walker asked.

"The Fang don't take kindly to traitors coming back. Usually killing them and making them an example for future recruits, Adam Taurus had been doing that since Blake had left." Ozpin said. That's right... Blake had been part of the White Fang in her younger years. At first he was irritated that she was part of that radical group but eventually he calmed down when he later realized she left because they were starting to go from peaceful protest to terrorism. Choices like that made him respect her, made her stand out from the typical person. Her conviction. She would rather die trying to bring equality than live and bring fear to achieve that.

"...Fine. Inform them that I'll accept but should they be a threat then I'm taking them out. I don't care if they beg, bribe, or even threaten me; I won't have them use my training as a way to better themselves to kill innocents." Walker said.

"Should they do those things?" Glynda asked.

"...Then I'll take them out myself." He said after a moment of silence.

"You can't be serious?!" She exclaimed.

"I've done it before Ms. Goodwitch. I'll do it again if I have to, just look at three of my COG tags." He replied quietly. It was true about that, he's had to kill a brother or sister after they either went insane or jeopardized someone he's cared about. Every time was with a heavy heart which made the hole in his heart bigger.

"I... just please tell us before you do okay?" She asked.

"Yeah..." He sighed and took off his shirt and put the new one on. He really wasn't in the mood to talk right now and wanted to be left alone for a minute, specifically until the raid.

"Despite us like being here in Atlas to see how you all are, we must be going back to Vale to keep things in check. We didn't exactly tell anybody we were leaving." Ozpin said.

"You're going to piss somebody off one day sir." Walker chuckled slightly.

"Already did that to Glynda." Ozpin said, making her eyebrow twitch.

"Yes, even me." She said, fixing her glasses while throwing him a slight glare.

"You two are going to be the death of me one day." Walker commented.

"Hopefully not. Anyways, we will see you when you arrive back in Vale." Ozpin said as he and Glynda left the room and headed back to Vale, leaving Walker in the room alone with his thoughts.

* * *

Multiple marines gathered around the map as Walker explained the plan for the raid on the Elite Theron. Ironwood had insisted that he had extra support with this mission and wouldn't take no for an answer, none of which bothered Walker as he saw the opportunity in ending the siege on the kingdom. All the Gears were gathered around silently as he explained while Jaune provided some insight on the matter, providing extra opportunities to avoid casualties if the whole plan worked out. But he knew that there were going to be some due to how large this whole raid was, possibly hundreds.

"Any questions?" He asked. All the marines remained silent except one, possibly a recruit, raised her hand.

"Shouldn't we at least... I don't know, capture it?" She asked.

"Negative, I already tried to do that to one of them in the past." He replied and went back to explaining as she nodded. No one knew this but she had been keeping up with the Gears' activities ever since they set foot in Atlas. They were like knights in shining armor to the average civilian and fearless soldiers to the marines, never once backing down from a battle. She had seen footage of some of them going against impossible odds and coming out on top without a single casualty. Walker was the one person she looked up to out of all of them, he was respectful and kind while also incredibly brave and strong while being a natural born leader. She often had dreams of becoming a Gear and showing her family that she could be one, but in all she almost squealed like a kid when she heard a rumor that they might be spreading to Atlas. All the thoughts were ripped from her head when she heard him speak up.

"Gears. Pray, read, joke around, hell even play a little game for a minute I don't care. But just make sure you're ready when we drop in the Dark Zone, because the moment we're on the ground we're killing every grub there and storming on the Theron. You have your orders, now carry them out." He ordered. They gave a unified salute and exited the room, he turned back to the silent marines and finally addressed them.

"How many of you have killed locust?" He asked, clicking his tongue when only a few of them raised their hands before nodding and gesturing them to follow him.

"Where are we going?" The recruit asked.

"To our armory." He answered.

"What's there?" She asked.

"Weapons, stronger than the ones you have." He answered and silently led them. The walk there took all but a few minutes and when the marines entered some of them whistled at the condition of the room, some of them gaping at the sight of the weapons before them. They had heard that the Gears used weapons that could surpass auras and were superior to their weapons in every way possible, making them question as to why they weren't receiving any of the weapons. Walker stepped up to a large weapons locker and placed his thumb against the pad, hearing it beep and watching as the light turned green, taking out Hammerbursts and Lancers before tossing them to each marine.

"So, can we keep these?" She asked.

"You prove your worth and you can. Listen up marines, I'm going to give you a quick rundown on these weapons so you don't kill yourself nor anyone else." He instructed, watching as they honed their focus on him. "This is the Mark 2 Lancer assault rifle, it fires sixty rounds per clip and is gas operated with low recoil. It's chainsaw bayonet is effective at cutting through a grub's thick hide and at cutting through metal, just make sure you don't mutilate yourself trying to use it." He commented and watched as some of them tested the chainsaw, jumping at the noise before nodding.

"Why can't we use our knives?" A marine asked.

"Your knife will bounce off the locusts' skin if you don't have enough force and get stuck. Thus the reason the chainsaw comes in, now onto the Hammerburst. This is the standard-issue locust assault rifle. Semi-automatic, fires twenty rounds in the clip, and has one hell of a punch when it hits its target. Grubs will carry these around everywhere so scrounging around for ammo isn't hard so long as you're not getting shot at." He said. The marines seemed satisfied with Walker's quick rundown of the weapons and understood why he wasn't giving them a more thorough rundown, they needed to be out there as soon as possible.

"So is that it?" The recruit asked.

"Pretty much the gist of it. Now, without further fucking around, we have a kingdom to save. So let's get it marines!" He suddenly shouted, making every single one of them give a unified cheer and quickly exit the room with high spirits. Each one of them having high determination to save their home, something he needed them to have because a majority of him couldn't.

* * *

The dropship flew silently as the Gears were in one while the marines were in the other, Walker had his eyes closed and his forehead set on the barrel of his Lancer with two COG tags wrapped around his right hand, as if they gave him a small blessing. His eyes slowly opened when he felt a hand on his shoulder and slowly turned to see Blake there with a slightly worried expression, she knew they weren't on good terms but she didn't care in the slightest. She had left him alone for the past three days so he could cool down and go in with a clear head but she didn't know if she could. The others were preoccupied with making small conversations with each other but she wasn't and wanted to be left alone before the blood bath but noticed Walker in the corner praying.

"Care to join me in reciting the Octus Canon?" He asked. She blinked a bit before answering hesitantly. This was the first thing he's said about Sera's culture other than the geography and the war, so this must be a big deal if he's reciting it.

"S-sure." She stuttered. He gripped her hands gently and looked down before whispering.

"I am responsible for myself and my actions; I shall conduct myself honorably, and live a clean and frugal life. I have responsibilities to my fellow citizens. I shall be loyal to them, and humble, because we are elements of a greater whole, and without them I am nothing, I have responsibilities to our society; I shall understand and respect my place in it, defend it, and work to make it prosperous, so that I may receive society's protection, and that we may hand on safety and prosperity to future generations." He whispered quietly, giving her hands a few pats before letting them go and leaning back. Both her eyes widened at that little at that and her breath hitched when he lifted his helmet a bit and blew out a breath, she could finally see part of his face and wondered what the other half of it looked like.

"You think we'll get through this?" She asked, frowning when he flicked her forehead lightly.

"I thought I taught you better than that Blake. Go in prepared, come out on top." He said.

"I know but I just can't help but feel that something will go wrong here. This is a big deal and this is our final push to get the locust out but... what if one of us dies?" She asked.

"Blake... I want you to listen to me and listen well." He said as she turned her focus on him. "This is war, not everything is going to go the way we want it to. It doesn't choose a side on who wins nor does it specifically choose who dies during it. It just happens, without reason. We fight because we fight for what we believe in, I fight because I don't want this world to fall under the locust's hands and to get back to my brother. What do you fight for?" He asked.

"Same reason as you." She answered.

"That's not it, is it?" He asked and watched as she hesitated for a minute.

"I fight for my friends and family but to also bring equality to everyone. I want to live in a world where we don't judge each other by what we are but rather what we do." She answered.

"Knew there was something special about you. Mom and dad would've loved you." He said. She didn't know whether to smile or frown at the complement, so a small smirk was what she gave as a response. The sound of gunfire and explosions snapped them from their little moment and made him stand up. All of them looked at him and prepped themselves as he counted down from three before smashing the button near the bay door and turning it red.

"The mission is simple Gears; get in there, clear out any opposition that stands between us, then kill the Theron and head home. The marines will drop off as soon as we clear a landing zone for them to which they'll provide support while we act as the battering ram. Any questions?" He asked.

"No sir!" They responded.

"Good. The light is green Gears, now get in there!" He shouted as he hit the button again and watched as it turned green and the bay doors opened. The sound of boots hitting the bullhead was loud and sort of drowned out the gunfire as it whisked towards the transport. He watched as each one of them jumped out and nose dived towards the ground while swerving back and forth to avoid the gunfire before landing on the ground and creating a miniature shock wave. The bay door closed and he walked up to the co-pilot's seat and sat in it, hitting a few switches near the top of the console and putting his hands on the controls.

"You ready for this kid?" Ash asked.

"Yeah. Once we clear the skies of any Reavers then drop me off at that building." Walker pointed towards a five story building that was a block away from the assault. Both could see the Gears on the ground fighting behind cars and corners of alleyways while the snipers were on rooftops providing support, picking off locust in blind spots.

"Got it kid, heads up though. We got Reavers." Ash nodded towards the front, making Walker look and see a couple of Reavers coming towards them. He aimed the twin Mulchers on the front of the dropship towards them and began firing. Three of them split to avoid the gunfire but one of them had its skull rendered to a mass of minced flesh before plummeting towards the ground and blowing up, killing the two Drones that were riding on its back. Hammerburst rounds impacted the side of the vehicle, making Ash swerve back and forth to avoid anymore gunfire; he suddenly barrel rolled to the right as a missile rocketed towards them and crashed into a building, sending rubble flying. Shrieks and roars tore through the air as the sound of gunfire was evident. A sudden explosion tore them from their focus and turned to see one of the marine bullheads falling towards the ground on fire before crashing behind a few buildings and an explosion was just barely seen over the edge.

"Shit... We got to keep the Reavers off them until ground forces clear out a landing zone!" Walker shouted, jerking in his seat when Ash veered left when a suicidal Reaver barreled towards them before crashing into the ground in a last ditch effort to ground them.

"A little har-" Ash struggled to say as he avoided another missile. "Hard to do that when these things fly better than me!" He said, avoiding another missile.

"I'll work on it." Walker said back as he aimed the guns at a Reaver as it landed on a bullhead and began to strike it. He fired at it for a minute, not enough to kill it but to scare it off, then quickly turned to fire a missile at another one's underbelly, killing it instantly. The marine bullheads swerved around to avoid the gunfire while providing the occasional firing support.

"Come on guys, just a little..." Walker whispered as he killed another Reaver that landed on the ground, sending it into pieces and splattering body parts all over the pavement. The dog fighting lasted for another ten minutes of pure swerving, firing, and ultimately killing any Reavers that roamed the sky and provided any opposition for the air support. Out of the twenty marine bullheads, only around half of them remained, which meant that a lot of the support meant to assist was gone. The locust had probably anticipated air support and prepped for it but in the end they came short.

"Walker! We cleared out the ground forces, it's all good." Ruby said after a slight static.

"We'll provide a fly by to make sure there aren't any in the cracks and crevices." He said, turning to Ash and making a circular gesture with his index and middle finger before putting his hands back on the controls. The pilot nodded and began to do a quick and thorough sweep of the area before radioing in to an open channel.

"This is Gear bullhead seven. The area is clear to land boys, drop off and fall in formation once we get done." He said, receiving different forms of conformation before switching off the channel and keeping watch as the other bullheads drop off their ground units. After the last one dropped off and began to ascend, the dropship lowered enough to wear Walker could repel down after dropping a One-Shot on a car, caving it in due to the weight. He hooked the rope on the floor and began to quickly fast rope down while having his Lancer aimed, he turned to see everybody looking at him before he looked up and tugged on the rope, watching as it zipped back up. Fixing the hood on his coat and making sure his armor was snug he walked over to the One-Shot and pulled it off of the car, placing it in one hand and tossing it to Yatsuhashi as the others gathered around him.

"How many lost?" He asked.

"We've lost sixty marines so far, that's not to say we won't lose anyone else once we storm the Theron's residence." Penny said with her head down slightly.

"Shit..." He muttered before taking a deep breath and sighing. "We can do this... alright, I want each team to have a squad of marines with them to possibly avoid casualties. You all see a Theron that resembles the elite one then you take the shot, no hesitation." He said.

"I thought you wanted to claim the kill for yourself sir?" Nadir asked.

"Doesn't matter anymore, what matters is that we take the damn fucker out." He replied, earning a few nods. The marines were split into their designated teams and were about to go but stopped when Walker spoke up.

"Blake, Velvet, and Neon. Get over here real quick." He called out. All three of them made their way over to him and walked a few feet away from everybody else before he leaned on a car and turned towards them.

"What's this about?" Velvet asked, scrunching up her nose a bit.

"It's about your guys' senses. They alright?" He asked.

"We're fine... okay maybe not so fine." Neon mumbled a bit.

"The smell?" He asked. All three of them shuffled a bit and he sighed slightly before nodding and pulling out three gas masks.

"Can we keep these?" Blake asked.

"No, but I'll let you use them for this mission. After this you'll need to learn how to deal with the stench." He said. They nodded in appreciation and put the masks on their faces, slightly gagging at the initial stench, but then breathed in relief when clean filtered air was all that remained flowing into their nostrils. The four of them walked over to the rest and looked at Walker.

"How much time do we have until the cavalry rolls in Ciel?" He asked.

"We have two hours until reinforcements come in, but it's around a twenty minute walk until we reach the designated location. Not including fighting the Theron and its forces. So in all, an hour to actually accomplish this mission." She said.

"Hmm, a little tight but we'll manage. We meet up at the entrance after dealing with the outside force. Alright people, let's get it done!" He shouted.

"Fight, light, unite!" The Gears shouted in unison while raising their weapons then began to spread out with the marines in tow. Walker looked at the squad of marines with him and the girls and equipped his Lancer, lighting the affiliation lights with a dull hum.

"Let's go... we got a kingdom to save." He clicked his tongue and led them throughout the streets, weapon ready and determination as well.

* * *

Private Kendra Maroon was excited to say the least, okay that was an understatement. She was ecstatic, leading her squad was the all time monumental figure to her and her squad, Walker Ronin. While earlier she had dreamed of fighting next to him but actually being next to him was a whole new level, along with the fact that his team was with them. Ruby Rose was what she had thought, small but deadly and quick enough on the scope to match a veteran huntsman. Weiss Schnee, elegant but deadly at the same time and is possibly even more so now that she's a Gear. Blake Belladonna, the quiet ninja faunus that can kill a locust and disappear without a trace. And finally, Yang Xiao Long, the certified brawler of the team that could kill a grub with her bare fist and walk away proud.

"Sir, what are we supposed to do after we kill this thing?" The sergeant asked.

"After we kill this thing then we remain on watch until reinforcements arrive and take over. After that we're going home." Walker replied.

"What if the these things attack again?" Kendra asked, keeping a vigilant eye on the alleyways.

"Then you all have the necessary footing to repel another attack. Locust are smart enough to know when something isn't in their hands, after they've dealt with a retreat then they'll most likely attack somewhere else." He answered.

"In other words, they've felt an ass kicking." Yang commented from the left, earning a few snickers.

"Then they harden their ass so it won't hurt so much next time." He said.

"Then kick harder." She jabbed.

"I don't want to go out with my foot up a Grenadier's asshole. Probably smells worse than you all after a workout." He retorted.

"I take offense to that." Weiss said from the rear.

"Well obviously not you Weiss, since you spend hundreds of dollars on body wash." He commented, making Yang snicker.

"Damn ice queen. I barely spend that much on my hair." She said.

"No... you spend more." Blake chimed in.

"You're supposed to be my partner Blake. Why did you betray me?" Yang asked dramatically.

"I dunno." She shrugged. Walker chuckled along the marines before he noticed Ruby hadn't said a word and kept a neutral expression on her face.

"You alright?" He asked.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, just counting how much money I'm going to get after Yang just cursed." She waved, cracking a smile when Yang began to sputter and her face grew red.

"What the fu-" She was cut off when Ruby looked to her left and threw a mischievous smirk, making her clamp her mouth shut.

"Take it Yang, feel the power of Ruby's censoring." He said.

"You too Walker." Ruby said.

"Oh fuck no. I already established when I gave you the Silverback blueprint that I was exempted." He denied.

"Fine, I guess I'll tell them about how you accidentally broke Weiss'-" She started.

"You finish that sentence and I'm not letting you near the shooting range anymore." He interrupted, making her eyes widen.

"That's not fair!" She exclaimed.

"It is if you finish the sentence." He said. She grumbled underneath her breath and stomped a bit before angrily sputtering when Walker ruffled her hair like he always does.

"One of these days she's going to beat you senseless." Blake advised.

"She already chased me around Beacon when I accidentally knocked over her baby." He said.

"You didn't even apologize!" Ruby shouted.

"I'm not apologizing to a simple weapon Ruby. That's like you apologizing to my helmet." He said. She gasped and stared at him like he was someone else.

"Did... did you just call Crescent Rose... a simple weapon?" She asked with narrowed eyes.

"Yeah I did. Now pay attention because we got grubs up ahead." He pointed a few blocks down.

"We will discuss this later." She said as she took cover behind a car and aimed down the scope of Crescent Rose, throwing him a small glare before turning back. He took cover next to her as the rest took cover behind other cars and aimed their rifles at the group of locust.

"How many you got Ruby?" He asked.

"Five Drones, three Grenadiers, a Boomer, and a Theron." She said, aiming at the Theron's head.

"Alright. Yang, take a marine and go to that truck near the right. Weiss you take one and go near that corner. And Blake take the last one and go near that alleyway. Sergeant, I want you next to me and Ruby." He said.

"Got it." He said and crouched down next to Walker as the others took up their assigned positions. It went quiet for a while before Walker finally gave Ruby the mark.

"On your go." He said. A second later the sound of a sniper cracked loudly through the air and everyone saw the Theron's body jerk back as its head turned to a shower of blood and gore, splattering all over the ground and a car windshield. All the locust turned towards them and gave roars as they advanced while firing their weapons and taking cover as the Gears and marines fired theirs. They ducked as bullets whistled past their heads and gunfire rang out through the air, threatening to burst their ear drums.

 **"Grenade!"** A Grenadier snarled as it twirled the explosive in its hand and threw it. The grenade landed next to Yang and she widened her eyes before diving to the left as it exploded, blowing off one of the marine's legs and one of his arms, making him scream in agony. Blood squirted on the ground as he held his bloody stump and tried to stop the bleeding, he was dragged behind cover and shielded by Yang to avoid any stray bullet hitting him.

"I need some help guys!" She shouted, wincing when a bullet whistled past her. He was about to retort but heard the sound of feet shuffling and saw a Grenadier running towards her position while stopping to take cover every few seconds.

"Covering fire!" He shouted and went behind cover to cover until he was right next to Yang. A body slamming against the side of the truck made him quickly reach over and grab the Grenadier, making it tumble over the hood. It staggered a bit before roaring in pain when Walker shot its shins and downed it.

 **"Revive me!"** It said but was picked up and held as a hostage. There was only Drone left and it was advancing towards them quickly but Walker strapped a grenade to the back of the Grenadier's neck and kicked it away from him, watching as the grenade exploded and killed the Drone, sending body pieces all over the pavement. All went silent as the locusts died and all that was left was the panicked breathing from the injured marine. Everyone rushed over to see the man's arm mangled and gone while his leg was nothing but a stump.

"Shit, shit, shit! What do we do?!" One of them asked.

"Move, I can get him up. I just need to stop the bleeding!" Another one said. Walker and the girls saw that the man wasn't going to make it within the next few minutes, he already lost too much blood and was fading fast. Ruby turned her gaze from it and covered her ears, not wanting to see a man die in front of her while she couldn't do anything. She wasn't a medic nor was she even capable of sewing up wounds, she was a sniper that killed locusts, not heal people.

"I-I can't stop it!" They said.

"Because he's gone." Walker said.

"How the hell do you know?!" The sergeant asked.

"Because his hand went limp." He replied.

"That doesn't mean he's dead!" Kendra said.

"Yang... check his pulse." He said slowly. She hesitated for a second before nodding and gently placing her hand on his wrist, then his neck, not once did she feel a pulse and looked down before shaking her head.

"Oh Oum... this isn't what was supposed to happen." One of them muttered.

"This is what we're facing marine. Despite us not wanting to, we need to continue." He said. There was a pregnant silence that masked over them until the Sergeant spoke up after a few minutes of silence.

"...What about his body?" He asked after a few moments of silence.

"We retrieve it after killing the Theron... I promise." Walker said as he set a hand on the sergeant's shoulder. The older man looked at it before looking at him and put on his determined face then gave a curt nod.

"Let's make that fucker pay." He said, pushing the despair that was beginning to bubble up.

"That's the spirit. Fight the battle now so we can mourn for the lost later." Walker said then began to lead them to the designated location, occasionally throwing a glance at the girls and the marines. This war would tear them up but for them... he needed to be strong.

* * *

When they got to the designated location all of them were taken aback by it. What used to be a simple museum was now a small palace that was littered with locust 'decorations', indicating that this was the Theron's place.

"Someone is a bit of a narcissist." Yang bit as she saw some 'decorations' hanging near the windows.

"Yeah. All the more reason to kill this fucking grub." Walker said, he checked his watch and saw that the others weren't there yet. They kept a defensive positions and waited a few minutes and saw nothing but heard voices to their right and looked to see the teams coming but some with sullen expressions. As they got closer he saw why they had sullen expressions, more of the marines died which left twenty five marines in total with a missing Gear also, Sky to be specific. Cardin walked up and held out his hand to show the four dog tags dangling in his fist, later putting them down and looking around.

"They just... they just got torn apart after we got separated. Sky went with them but... we tried to help them out but there were too many wretches and..." He trailed off, clutching his eyes and squeezing away a few tears as his grip on the dog tags tightened. In his right hand was Sky's COG tag that was stained in blood making Walker look at it intently then let out a low sigh.

"Fuck..." He whispered and looked to the side. This was beginning to take a turn for the worst really quick, they needed to end this. "Here's what we're going to do Cardin. We're going to put this fucker in the ground then get the kingdom the necessary footing, after that we go home and put Sky to rest." He said.

"Why not now?" Cardin choked. While it may seem like he was trying to be tough, he couldn't. One of his friends had just died trying to save a couple of marines, and it wasn't something to best remember him by.

"Sky and those marines' deaths will be in vain if we don't stop this. You guys wanted to do something great right?" Walker asked.

"Y-yeah."Cardin replied.

"Then make sure you survive for him to make that great thing happen. He died doing something great for you all, so the least you can do is honor him by surviving another day." Walker said. Cardin looked at him unconvinced but watched as Walker placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a firm pat.

"Let's... let's do this then." He said, wiping away a few tears.

"That a boy. Make him proud brother." Walker nodded and stepped away as he addressed the remaining Gears and marines. "I could go all day about facing loss and the whole ordeal but we have a mission now. This locust that leads the assault has taken people from us all; family, friends, lovers, etc. So the sooner we get this fucker down in the ground, the sooner we can save the kingdom, head home, and honor the dead. We are the driving force that gives Atlas its footing, we are the ones that will retake _our_ kingdom!" He exclaimed. All of them gave a shout and prepped themselves as they stacked up near the door, snipers on the roof across the building while infantry stacked up near the door with a few support units took cover behind the cars in the street.

"The charges are primed sir." Kendra said as she handed him the detonator, to which he handed to Nora.

"Valkyrie, blow it." He ordered.

"With pleasure." She said with a small wicked smile and pressed the button. The force of the explosion sent the door flying and hit a few Drones near the entrance as everyone rushed inside, killing any locust before they could recuperate from the initial blast. The interior had two separate paths, each with an upstairs and downstairs which meant more locust patrolling ever square foot of the complex.

"JNPR, CRDL, go upstairs to the right and clear out any grubs you find. CFVY and BRNZ, take the lower right and do the same. Penny and Ciel, you and SSSN take the left lower path and clear out any opposition. RWBY and ABRN, with me to clear out the upper left. I want the rest of you to keep watch here in case any more grubs decide to show up late for the party." He ordered.

"Right." They nodded.

"What about us?" A marine asked, voicing the others' thoughts.

"You will remain here and help guard the entrance. While doing so, see if you can patch through to the General and get more forces here to finally retake the kingdom back." He said.

"Got it sir, you can count on us." The marine said.

"Watch each other's backs, and keep every single one of those fuckers from getting in here. Get messy if you have to." He pointed to their chainsaws before giving each one of them a last glance and heading upstairs with the two teams in tow. It went quiet for a while before Kendra finally spoke up, voicing everybody's opinion.

"Is he always this cool?" She asked, getting small chuckles from the others.

* * *

The Theron sat at the end of the museum on a throne made out of skeletons and a sticky substance to keep it together, the large atrium was really coming together and by the end of the war it would be complete. There was only once giant entrance and it knew that its time was coming judging by the sound of gunfire, chainsaws, roars, snarls, and even cries of the pathetic humans. Others saw it as a simple foot soldier but it had made itself known throughout the years of the war on Sera, and was even appointed next to General RAAM once but was pulled before it could be deployed. It was an Theron Sentinel, one of the best and was appointed leader of this invasion by its leader. While it's brother served next to RAAM, it was positioned next to Skorge during a few battles and had a signature custom sawed-off like its fallen brother. What was meant to be a piece of cake since these humans fell faster than the last ones and were not hardened, turned out to be a mere annoyance when it discovered something that made its blood boil.

 **"Gearssssss."** It hissed menacingly. It didn't take a Boomer to figure out that those soldiers that kept taking out its lieutenants were Gears, they were efficient, messy, and wore those damned chains around their necks with that damn COG. These ones were different than the ones on Sera, they were trained to the point of perfection and decimated its forces as if they were mere Tickers, not even a group of Therons could take them down, something that shouldn't have happened. While it often brushed these things off as trivial it couldn't help but curl its mouth into a twisted smile at the thought of something skilled enough to venture in its domain, something it had been waiting for since the start of the war. A challenge. Leading the various brothers of the horde was fascinating and all but it lacked the enjoyment of going out on the field and basking in the violence, ridding the world of the humans and these mutants. If Sera couldn't be theirs then this world would. A Drone came up from the right and knelt down.

 **"Humans are coming."** It growled.

 **"Let them come."** The Theron grinned, making the Drone nod and head out of the room as the Theron stood up and grabbed its personal sawed-off and a cleaver with a longer handle. It walked over to the balcony and saw numerous Drones and Grenadiers aiming their weapons at the door. Behind the Theron was an armored bloodmount snarling loudly with spit dribbling down its maw. It was silent for a while and the air around the locust was tense before an explosion rang out and knocked a few of them down and they retaliated by firing into the smoke. They stopped firing for a second and waited as the silence began to bask over them more, it was interrupted when a thumping noise rang out and they saw the head of a Grenadier tumble in their view. One of them knelt down and picked up the head and held it high while staring at it with fury. The Theron placed its hands over the edge and peered closer before widening its eyes when it realized there was a chain dangling from the mutilated flesh of the neck.

 **"SMOKE!"** A Drone shouted and jumped away before taking cover as it exploded and covered the air in a thick substance. The other locust coughed harshly as it flooded their lungs and they waved away the smoke, some of them fell as bullets ripped through their bodies and they landed with loud thumps on the ground. Two shotgun blasts came from the smoke and killed two more locusts before a figure slid on their knees and fired into the crowd with their dual pistols before slamming into cover. More figures rushed in and took cover as gunfire whistled towards them.

"Nice work on the grubs right ahead of us Reese." Walker commented as he ducked underneath a few rounds and peeked over and fired, hitting a Drone in the chest then working his way up to its skull.

"Thank you, I try very hard." She said in posh accent. She quickly reloaded her guns and aimed them at the right to kill another Drone that was coming up behind Weiss as she ducked underneath a Theron as it slashed at her then stabbed it a couple of times then finally in the throat. A grenade landed in the center mass of the locust and a majority of them dove out of the way as it exploded. Walker looked to the right to see Velvet behind a statue swing another grenade then throw it near a Grinder as it began to crank the Mulcher. It exploded but didn't kill the Grinder and made it turn its sight to her but its body jerked backwards and splattered against the ground when Yatsuhashi sent a One-Shot round through its torso. More roars echoed throughout the complex as locust seemed to pour out of the nearby hallways while wretches vaulted over the railing and charged at them. A wretch took cover and avoided the gunfire for a second before vaulting over the cover and tackling Arslan, clamping its jaws around her leg and making her scream in pain as it thrashed its head around and tore some flesh off. Bolin equipped his staff and violently slammed it on the back of the wretch's skull before ripping it off of her and holding her bloody leg.

"Where the hell is Penny?!" Walker shouted as he equipped his snub pistol and fired at a nearby sniper, beaming in satisfaction as its head exploded. "Pop goes the freak show." He said and reloaded faster than anyone could blink. He grabbed Nadir and forced him down as a torque bow bolt slammed in the wall behind them and covered them in rubble and dust. More locust rounded the cover and aimed at them but quickly fell when JNPR and CRD(L) vaulted over and knocked them over, firing into the back of their heads and taking cover next to Walker and co.

"Bout time you fucking ladies showed up!" He shouted, growling when a sniper round bounced off his helmet. Jaune smirked at him before giving a sharp whistle to Pyrrha as she nodded and threw her spear at a flamer as it let loose a torrent of fire, striking it in the tank and then watching as its body exploded along with the tank.

"Sorry about that boss! We got caught up with some scaly assholes." Cardin replied as he fired his hammerburst into a Drone and peeked around cover to pick the ammo. A loud shriek made their ears ring and they saw a Kantus swing its grenade in the air.

 **"Succumb to the ink!"** It shouted and threw the grenade at them, making them scatter as the poisonous ink caked the ground. Walker took cover behind a statue and flinched as bullets began to rip it away, a lucky shot grazing his jacket. He looked to his left and saw Penny and Ciel sneaking by and slammed his fist against the statue three times, making them nod and bring out a few grenades. Both of them swung them quickly and threw them against the wall, watching as they bounced off and clattered against the ground before exploding and killing a vast amount of locust. He spotted the Theron up on the massive balcony glaring at them while behind it was a throne made out of bones, this was the target and he'd be damned if the fucker got away. The Theron then raised its hand and gave a loud horrible shriek which made the rest of the locust roar and start to slowly retreat while a few loyal ones stayed and fought the Gears but quickly fell as their other brothers left. Everyone remained in cover and waited for the Theron to make a move but slowly came out when they saw it just standing there, flashing a malicious smile at them.

"We'll see who's smiling when I come up there and bash your fucking skull in!" Cardin shouted and stepped forward but stopped when Walker stuck his hand out.

"Something's not right." He said while he stared at the Theron.

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked.

"They retreated like that. Suddenly too, which means they probably have something planned." Walker replied.

"Or they know they've lost." Nadir said.

"I have to agree with Walker, it's not like them to just suddenly retreat like that." Blake said as she stood next to him.

"Who cares, we're winning this thing after we kill it. So it can't be that bad." Sage said.

"Does it matter? Let's just kill it then get this over with... I want to bury Sky and the marines sooner than later." Cardin whispered the last bit, making everyone throw him a glance. While Cardin had always displayed the cocky attitude it wasn't as bad as it was before, most of the time now it was more of a teasing manner, even gaining laughs from some of them. But seeing him so somber now made them all want to finish this mission.

"Kill it and secure the area then we'll-" Walker began to instruct.

 **"Skorge's torture toy~"** The Theron hissed teasingly at Walker, making him freeze and make his knuckles pop. Everyone noticed his helmet lights flicker yellow for a second before they turned back blue, a sudden snapping noise was heard and they cringed when he slowly began to rotate his head and painful cracks came from it. He was damn near silent with the exception of the bones cracking and a small bone chilling laugh erupted from his system, making them scoot back a bit.

"You know... it's been a while since I've mutilated a high ranking locust with my bare hands... care to be the first participate?" He asked the Theron as a grin began to slowly take over his face.

"Walker?" Ruby asked as she stared at his stock still figure, she could just feel the bloodthirsty intent leaking off his shoulders, as if he would enjoy killing the locust in front of him. She wanted to shake him out of his trance but he seemed stuck in it and the Theron wasn't making it any better.

 **"Once I bring you to him. Skorge will be so happy with us. He misses his _sessions_ you two used to have in those days and the numerous humans he's played with don't suffice like you." **It hissed gleefully.

"Gears... mutilate this fuck, make it messy too." Walker grinned sadistically. All of them looked at him and cast each other worried glances before their sights turned to the Theron and they aimed their weapons at it, but saw that it disappeared. They looked around before hearing a loud roar and saw the balcony ahead suddenly explode in rubble as a heavily armored Bloodmount crashed on the ground with the Theron on top with its shotgun on its back and a Hammerburst in its hand, roaring at them before suddenly firing. All of them rushed to cover as the bullets flew towards them while Walker counted how many rounds were left until it had to reload.

"Five left you fucking grub, then we attack." He muttered and waited until he heard the clicking sound and peeked out of cover to fire at the Theron but snarled when the bloodmount raised its hand and shielded part of its rider while growling in pain. It suddenly rushed over to the teams and vaulted over cover, barely nicking Arslan with its razor sharp talons. She limped to the side and bit her lip in pain when her wound flared up in pain, making her scream in pain as she rolled on it to avoid another attack. The others quickly opened fire and saw that most of their rounds either bounced off or did very little damage to its body, the Theron had reloaded by that time and began to fire at all of them again, but also quickly tossed a grenade to make them scatter. It exploded and had forced a majority of them to either take cover by a statue or behind a fallen pillar to avoid anymore gunfire, it was also hard to hit the locust due to how fast the Bloodmount was moving. The two suddenly ran up the stairs and Jaune saw that on the Bloodmount's back was a pack of some sort, he immediately recognized it as an ammo pack and saw there was a few grenades in there too.

"Walker! There's an ammo pack on the Bloodmount's back, a few grenades in there too!" Jaune shouted as he kept an eye on the Theron as it went upstairs and jumped off the Bloodmount and the beast went one way that was headed towards the Gears. The Theron took cover behind a piece of rubble and heft a One-Shot up, aiming it at them.

"One-Shot!" Coco shouted as she dove to the right as the ground before her exploded and she quickly scrambled behind a pillar to avoid the laser. Laughing could be heard from ahead as the Theron grinned at them and gave a sharp whistle to its mount and recalled it back but not before firing one last One-Shot round at the Gears. Walker saw the Bloodmount and the Theron coming at him with blinding speeds and dove to the right when they vaulted over cover and attacked him, he slammed his back against the cover and fired at the Theron for a second and drew some blood before rolling over the cover and taking it as more rounds flew past his head. The Bloodmount gave a roar at him and charged at him once more before stumbling when Penny slashed its leg with a couple of her swords and Ciel fired her Lancer at its head, disorientating it for a second. It felt rounds crash against its back as the others flanked it and fired into the pack on its back, one of the grenades caught on fire and the Theron widened its eyes and jumped off as the pack exploded and the beast roared in pain as the shrapnel and gunpowder ignited while blood poured heavily from its wound.

It gave the loudest roar that it could muster, which made everyone's ears ring and stunning them for a second, before charging towards one of the Gears. Most of them dove out of the way but Nadir didn't make it in time, he tried to fire his weapon but blanked when he found it jammed. It knocked him to the ground and snapped at his face but he held it with all his strength but screamed in agony when it sunk one of its legs in his stomach and made him vomit a massive amount of blood. His hands slipped and that was all the Bloodmount needed to sink another leg into his stomach and clamp its jaws on his shoulder, thrashing around and slamming him up and down while mutilating his shoulder and tearing it into strands of flesh. It ripped its head up and tore off a large chunk of his arm and making him howl in agony before it clamped its maw around his lower jaw and throat before ripping it to the side, tearing both of them out and splattering blood all over the ground.

All of them, except Walker, stared wide eyed at the sight of Nadir's corpse as the blood began to pool around. Reese dropped to her knees and stared at the corpse with tears beginning to well in her eyes the longer she stared. The sound around them seemed to drown out while every bit of sound drowned out from her. The Bloodmount gorged on the corpse some more before it spotted her on the ground staring blankly ahead. It snarled at her and began to charge while she just knelt there, half of them fired at the Theron while the other half tried to hold off the Bloodmount.

"N-Nadir." She stuttered. The rounds bounced off its armor and its it opened its mouth wide to swallow her skull whole but found itself stopped when Walker placed his hands on its upper and lower jaw, his body skidding back as he halted the advance of the beast. She shakily looked up to see him holding the beast back and felt a pair of arms wrap around her stomach to bring her to the side and out of harm's way.

"Blast it!" He shouted. Nora and Yang gave war cries before slamming their personal weapons to the side and throwing it off of him. He quickly rushed up to its dazed form and kicked it in the snout before shoving his sawed-off in its mouth and pulling the trigger. Blood splattered against his body and the ground below as the body was sent to different places. A loud roar/hiss echoed throughout the atrium and they all looked at the Theron snarling at the death of its personal beast, grabbing a nearby torque bow and firing it at them. They took cover as the arrow exploded and began to fire at the Theron, weakening it little by little as it moved around every so often to pick up a weapon and fire at them. As the seconds turned to minutes and those eventually turned to tens of minutes, the Theron grabbed a frag grenade and threw it at them. Ruby, using her lighting fast reflexes, aimed Crescent Rose at the grenade and fired a single shot, hitting it when it was a few feet away from the Theron. It exploded and sent the locust flying into a nearby pillar before it rolled on a nearby spike and cut itself.

"Get that fucker!" Walker ordered and began to lead them up the stairs to see the Theron crawling towards a nearby office that was overlooking the city. It was a large glass office with a big window that seemed to show half the city in each pane. They saw it crawling slowly and enter the office with a giant blood trail following closely behind, it crawled for a few more feet before reaching for a weapon underneath a desk but was dragged away from it. Cardin and Yatsuhashi forced it to look at them all as they aimed their weapons at it with slightly dead expressions. It grinned at them all as if its life wasn't being threatened then coughed up blood when Walker picked it up by its throat and gave a swift uppercut that sent if flying into the seat behind the desk.

"Where's Skorge?" Walker asked as he held his knife up to its throat and stood over it. A bloody swab of spit was what he got in return, making Cardin vault over the table and give a heavy haymaker to its skull and was about to continue but was stopped when Walker held his hand out to calm him down.

 **"Skorge will find you torture toy. It's just a matter of time."** It grinned at him, growling in pain when he suddenly stabbed it in the thigh.

 _'Rip him apart! Tear his flesh from his bones! Show him pain like Skorge showed you!'_ His inner thoughts screamed as his vision warped, but he shook his head and glared at the locust in front of him as it sent a knowing malicious smile at him.

 **"Skorge's sessions seemed to have an effect on you. How long until you finally snap?"** It asked making the others, with the exception of RWBY, look at him in confusion.

"Walker? Why does he keep calling you Skorge's torture toy?" Jaune asked, but saw that he received no answer in return and saw Walker's grip on the Theron's neck tighten immensely. He suddenly plunged the knife deep in the Theron's chest and rip it up before stabbing it multiple times in the skull until it was nothing by flayed flesh; he finished the locust off by slamming its corpse in the rolling chair and violently kicking it in the chest, watching as the chair and body fly towards the window before crashing out towards the bottom of the building. A wet splat against the pavement was music to his ears and he looked around before grabbing a nearby grenade and throwing it on the corpse, sending it spattering it across the pavement.

It went silent for a while with the exception of their labored breathing before they all slowly walked out and went over to the center atrium and gazed at the carnage around them, some of them finally dropping to their knees in exhaustion while others let out silent tears. Walker slowly walked over to Nadir's bloody corpse and took off his COG tag before walking over to Cardin and taking Sky's COG tag, then making his way over to the fountain in the middle and began to gently clean them for a minute. He gingerly set them on the edge of the fountain and whipped his hands free of any residue water before taking the tags and walking over to Cardin and Reese, placing their fallen comrade's tags around their necks.

"Teams near the entrance, what's you status?" He asked.

"We're doing good sir, a little shaken but we've repelled the locust from getting in." Nebula answered.

"And the marines?" He asked.

"All accounted for. They've gotten through to Ironwood and have gotten us cleared for support." She said.

"Good, we'll be there shortly." He said and cut the feed.

"Boss?" Reese asked.

"Yeah?" He asked back as he lead them to the entrance, away from Nadir's body.

"Is... is this what loss feels like?" She asked, never having truly experienced it and only asked Walker because she's seen him have multiple tags in his pocket.

"Yeah... it is. It gets bigger the more friends and loved ones you lose." He replied.

"How do we deal with it?" Cardin asked quietly to avoid the choke in his voice.

"You ask yourself what they died for and use that as determination. If you won't fight for yourself then fight for them, I doubt they would want to see their comrades tear themselves apart." He said. Cardin nodded slowly and followed the rest out of the main atrium and into the entrance where the others stood guard and multiple locust lied dead on the pavement. Nebula was the first one to address him and walked up to him and was about to greet him but noticed everybody else's expressions... sorrow.

"What happened?" She asked slowly.

"We lost some of our own. We lost Nadir." He said, making her gasp and look at Reese.

"What happens next though?" She asked.

"We wait for the cavalry, go home, and put the others to rest. The grubs lost this kingdom but they haven't lost the war yet." He answered. All of them went silent for a while before he stepped out of the museum and pulled out a flare gun, firing it into the sky and watching as it separated in a light of orange. Everyone remained silent as they scrounged around for ammo and reloaded before taking up defensive positions as they waited for the cavalry to arrive, never once speaking a word this entire time nor even engaging in one. For the next hour they waited while keeping a vigilant eye for any stragglers and encountered the occasional Ticker and Wretch but otherwise dealt with no other locust but saw Reavers flying out towards the kingdom, deducing that they were fleeing the kingdom but would strike again at full force the next attack that they would plan and execute. The distant echoing of gunfire could still be heard in the distance and the occasional explosion made them stand at the ready but otherwise remain calm as they waited. Eventually the sound of bullheads hovering in the air and assault vehicles rolling on the streets came closer and closer until they could see the vehicles from down the street. An APC rolled up to the museum and quickly swung around before more marines poured out. A bullhead dropped down and Winter was the first one out with marines and knights following closely behind her. She quickly made her way up to the Gears with her sword out in case of any locust.

"Stand down Winter. They're leaving the kingdom, quickly too before they suffer anymore casualties." He said.

"Is Weiss okay?" She asked.

"See for yourself. But make it quick because I want to get them out of here before shit gets worse for them... they've experienced the loss of two Gears and enough marines to put them down." He said.

"I... thank you for telling me." She said and began to walk towards her sister but stopped to address Walker again. "The General wishes for you to remain here until we are sure the section of the is secure." She added.

"Why me? This section of the city is secure and you all have the necessary footing, so my work here is done." He said.

"Unfortunately it's not. Orders are orders lieutenant." She sighed and walked away from him. He stood there for a minute before he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked over his shoulder to see Blake and the rest of the Gears standing by with their weapons lowered.

"What are our orders?" She asked.

"Go back to the academy and have some R&R." He said.

"What about you?" Nora asked.

"I'm ordered to stay here and secure this section of the city with Winter and the marines." He answered.

"Why don't we all stay here? I mean we're good enough to help you secure it, you don't have to do it alone." Pyrrha said.

"Look, I know you all want to help all you can but you've done everything you can as of now." He replied.

"Boss... we're not leaving." Gwen said.

"Yes you are... go put Sky and Nadir to rest. I'll be there as soon as I can to help." He said. All their voices seemed to be put to halt, they were silent for a second before they slowly nodded and stood a ways away. Blake patted him on the shoulder as she walked by and stood with the rest as they waited for their custom dropship.

"Lieutenant!" Kendra called out from afar as she and her squad made their way over to him.

"Always got to be the one to lead when stuff hits the fan. Isn't that right Ajay?" He asked himself as he reached in his pocket and pulled out a picture of his family and his team in one picture, on the deck of the Sovereign, three days before his dad died.

* * *

Four days had passed since the final raid on the Theron and news broke out that the locust were pulling out, igniting a new hope in the denizens to take back their home. Atlas had caught wind of what the Gears had done for their country and held a ceremony in response to them, but later turned to confusion when they stated that a funeral should be held first to honor the dead. The celebration would occur in a few weeks. Sky and Nadir's bodies were placed in the morgue along with the other fallen then later put in a casket with a COG flag covering it. All of them wore their ceremonial uniforms and sat in a room with their heads down, none of them really saying a word until they heard the door open and Walker enter the room with his uniform on.

"They're ready." He said making them nod and stand up. They followed him throughout the hallway and ignored the stares they were receiving, only looking away from the people's grateful stares. After a minute of walking they entered a room to see two caskets with the COG flag covering them, making their stomachs churn at the sight of them. Yatsuhashi, Cardin, Dove, Russel, Jaune, Nolan, Flint and Ren lifted Sky's casket up and moved to the right a bit as Arslan, Reese, Bolin, Yang, Nebula, Ruby, Weiss, and Neon lifted up Nadir's casket then followed the first group out the door. People moved out of the way when they saw them carrying the caskets and bowed their heads in respect as they watched them exit the building and into a field where numerous people sat in rows while two graves were dug up and gently set them down. The walk to the grave wasn't far and they had already transported the caskets to the designated location. It may have seemed like a military funeral but it wasn't. He didn't want that for them, he didn't want them to be just soldiers but rather huntsman that gave it their all in the war.

The boys were on either side of the casket and picked up the flag waist high. They began to fold in int a tri-cornered shape thirteen times, ending it with Ren until he handed it to Cardin as he leaned over to grab it then pass it down to Yatsuhashi, who then walked over and handed the flag over to Walker as he gently took it from his grasp, watching the taller man salute him before going back to his spot. Ren and Cardin nodded then turned and led the boys out of the way while Walker went up to Sky's parents and handed them the flag. To which his mother grasped with shaky hands and tears in her eyes while his father let a few tears fall but otherwise gave no noise.

The girls repeated the same process with the same pace but held onto the flag a bit longer then passed it to Walker, who went up to Nadir's sister and gave the flag to her. She accepted it with tears in her eyes and hugged it tightly while whispering something as he stepped away and reunited with the Gears as the graves were lowered. He stopped next to Blake and she cast him a glance but otherwise kept her focus on the two graves that were being lowered. It pained her to say this but she had come to enjoy Sky and Nadir's company along with the rest of them. Walker had brought them together and forged a bond that made them a family that fought for tomorrow, so watching as one of your own being put in the ground was heartbreaking. The rest of the funeral was given to by Ironwood himself as he described the efforts the boys made and what they had died doing, stating that the country of Atlas thanks them for their service and that they'd be buried with the rest of the fallen. He finished his speech by bowing his head in silence and later walking off as the rest of the attendants of the funeral slowly left in the masses, only leaving a few stragglers and the Gears.

"Walker?" Jaune asked.

"Yeah?" He asked back.

"What do we do now?" Jaune voiced everyone's question.

"We go home." Walker answered and led them to the airship. Once they all boarded it, pretty much most of the fell asleep with the exception of Weiss and Blake, who either read or filed their nails.

"Hey Walker?" Weiss asked.

"Mhmm." He hummed in response.

"Are you still mad at me?" She asked.

"Sort of, I'm not so much as mad but I'm still disappointed." He answered.

"That's understandable, I did cross the line." She mumbled.

"Big time but if you've learned from your mistake then I can't stay mad forever." He said.

"So you forgive us?" Blake asked.

"Maybe, depends on my mood." He said. She nodded at that and it went silent once again, it lasted for half an hour before Weiss decided to finally speak up after all this time.

"Thank you for saving my home." She said quietly.

"Don't sweat it Weiss. It's our job to fight for our home because who else will?" He asked.

"No one." She answered.

"That a girl, now rest up because we have a long way until we get back home." He said, leaning back. She nodded and leaned back in her seat before falling asleep. Blake seemed to stop reading her book and sat next to him before leaning on his shoulder then opening her book again.

"Whatcha reading?" He asked.

"A book about a man who faces his inner demons. He has people to help him but doesn't want any because he's scared that the demons will overcome him." She said, turning the page. He raised an eyebrow at that but didn't comment and just read some of the pages before he clicked the side of his helmet and a gentle song came on, making her look up to see him look at the book. The woman's voice was soft and slow while a piano and violin could be heard in the background like a soft lullaby, her eyes went back to the book and she read it some more before her ears started to curl a bit. What made the moment all the better was when he started to hum along with the tune in perfect harmony then finally end it with a soft low hum. The song finished slowly and she ended the chapter with a small sigh before she looked down and saw him with his scroll out. It was a picture of all of them on their graduation day with the tallest in the back and the shortest in the front, him on the side with his hands behind his back.

"I remember this day as if it were yesterday." He commented.

"Oh yeah?" She asked.

"Yeah. I remember your face when you realized you passed the final." He said.

"I really didn't have a choice to." She retorted.

"Well, neither did I but hey... here I am." He gestured to himself making her raise an eyebrow.

"You want a medal?" She asked.

"Not really, but since we're all receiving one anyways who cares?" He shrugged. It went silent for a minute before she looked at his helmet and saw it turn dim and flicker for a second before returning to its normal glow.

"Hey Walker... why don't you ever take your helmet off?" She asked, making him sigh and rub the top of it. His shoulders tensed up and he leaned forward slowly while she leaned off of him and blinked. "I'm sorry... that was rude of me to ask-" She started.

"No it's okay." He sighed and looked at his hands before clenching them. "It's because my face is something I don't want to be seen. I've had this helmet since I got out of AIT and its something my dad and grandpa made me to keep me safe. It's like a relic to me." He added.

"What's it like in there?" She asked.

"Close your eyes." He instructed and watched as she did so. There was a sharp his off compressed air as he took off his helmet and she felt the snug helmet placed over her head then suddenly tighten when he clicked something on the side. It smelled like cologne with a hint of mint that seemed to make her senses sharpen for a second before her eyes lit up when the systems booted up with a dull hum. A COG symbol lit up on the HUD and began to spin quickly before multiple things popped up and finally ended with a blue light flashing a couple times indicating all the systems were good. Her gaze fell to her hands and she rotated them and looked around the air ship, his point of view seemed so advanced as he had all these things to keep track of.

"Why don't we get helmets like these?" She asked, jumping slightly when her voice seemed to echo and looked to her left but saw that Walker had covered his face with a nearby hoodie.

"You all probably do have stuff like this but don't distribute it enough. Like I said, my dad and grandpa made that for me so it's different from the others." He answered. She hummed in response and just let the cushion inside the helmet wrap around her head and then realized why he never took it off, it was comfortable as shit. Before she could enjoy it some more the helmet was clicked and the compressed air tickled her neck before it was taken off. She blinked a few times to let her eyes adjust to the airship before she turned her gaze to Walker, just barely catching his mouth as the helmet was put on and the helmet lights came on.

"Why does your helmet smell like cologne and mint?" She asked.

"I dunno, why do you still read those smuts?" He asked back, making her face turn red.

"Shut up! And how do you know they are?" She demanded.

"Because you left it out one day and I read a few pages that was nothing but pure, sweaty, hardcore sex." He said, watching as her face turned a deeper red. Shrinking deeper the more he talked about it and teased her.

"Whatever." She muttered.

"Yeah... get some sleep. It's a long trip back." He said.

"Then you have to get some too." She said sternly.

"After I do something." He said.

"No, now." She ordered.

"Fine, just let me send this text-" He started but blinked when she snatched it from his hand and shoved it in her pocket then sent him a glare. He stared at her for a minute before sighing deeply and leaning back, slowly closing his eyes and falling asleep shortly after. She soon followed and leaned on his shoulder as the dull hum of the transport took them back home. It may have seemed like he forgave them but the truth is that he hasn't, not even close. He just wanted them to focus on something else other than gaining his favor back.

* * *

Cinder's plans were beginning to deteriorate rapidly. The plan at the stadium had gone haywire when that bimbo Yang was proven innocent after Mercury's 'injury' was shown to be a hoax, which in turn had gotten them eliminated from the tournament. Next were these reptilian humanoids that decided to destroy everything she had worked up to, even scaring most of the White Fang away from their cause. She had tried to find a compliant individual within the locust's ranks but was always met with violence. The White Fang that had been accompanying her had been killed brutally and swiftly which left her alone to fight them, they were dealt with quickly but she had suffered a bullet wound to the leg. Emerald was quick to tend to her while Mercury stood a little bit away from them.

"So are we going to talk about the fact that these things have weapons that can bite through our auras?" Mercury chimed in.

"That matters not Mercury. We have their weapons to combat them, what matters is that the plan is still going to be carried through no matter the obstacles that come between us." She winced and sent a small glare when Emerald accidentally squeezed the bandage too tight, making her cower a bit.

"What about that Walker weirdo?" He asked.

"We'll deal with him when the time comes." She answered back.

"If you're wondering, I found some more about him." He said.

"What does it say?" Emerald asked.

"Apparently, he's already receiving missions from Ozpin and the council which means he's skilled. He has more kills than anybody on Remnant, not to mention he trained a group that's as skilled as him, and that he's managed to recruit Roman and Neo." He informed, scoffing at when he saw a picture of him carrying a civilian to safety.

"What about his personal file? Background, aura, birthplace, family?" Cinder asked.

"Hmm, doesn't say. Everything else besides the aura topic is redacted and it's pretty secure too. Only thing is that he has never had an aura and that he doesn't seem to care that he doesn't have one. Probably thinks he's invincible." He muttered.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." Emerald chimed in.

"Why?" Cinder asked.

"From what Adam's techies pulled from the footage of him in action, he's extremely perceptive and does show reaction to pain but it seems like he's grown accustom to pain. To the point where it would take a shotgun blast for him to be in excruciating pain. " She said.

"So it means he's probably gone through enough pain in his life to grow accustom to it." He said.

"What matters is that we capture him. Emerald, I need you to get close to him and lead him somewhere secluded. Use your semblance if you have to." Cinder said.

"My semblance doesn't work on him." She said.

"I thought that you could use it against anyone? Was I wrong?" Cinder asked evenly.

"I-It usually does but I can't actually see inside their head. Only feel what they're feeling at the moment, that's how my semblance works." She said nervously.

"And what did you feel inside his mind?" Cinder asked.

"Pain... mental and emotional pain. I also felt rage, insanity, and extreme bloodlust. Like killing is what he enjoys more than anything." She shuddered.

"What else can you tell me about him?" Cinder asked.

"He said he enjoys taking people's eyes for his collection. Said that if Mercury ever followed him again he'd take his eyes and he'd take mine and eat them." Emerald said.

"What? There's no way." Mercury scoffed.

"Yes there is Mercury, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who is all bark and no bite. He seems like the opposite." She replied. Mercury scoffed again as he pulled up a video from a street sign, showing Walker execute a downed sniper by placing his knee on its back and using his sawed-off to break its neck and twist it at an unnatural angle. He narrowed his eyes and jumped back in surprise when Walker suddenly whipped his head to the camera and flipped it off before pulling out his snub pistol and destroying it with a single shot.

"Cocky asshole." He muttered. A sound to their right made the three look to see Adam and the lieutenant storm in the room and sit down at the table while gripping their hair tightly, threatening to pull it out due to their anger.

"Let me guess. That soldier boy got in your way?" Cinder asked evenly.

"Of course!" Adam shouted and slammed his fist on the table. "Not only has he killed enough of my men to scare them stiff but he's manage to get a majority of them to turn on me!" He added.

"He also managed to take back Atlas in the span of a year, not only that but he's been able to avoid capture and send more brothers and sisters back either mutilated, traumatized, or heavily injured. And that's just the beginning." The lieutenant seethed. Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury looked at each other then back at the two.

"And that thief Roman had been charmed into smuggling weapons for him which limits the supplies the White Fang get." Adam said.

"We already know about that but what of getting any information on him?" Cinder asked.

"Other than the fact that he's a violent sociopath with mental issues and surgeon level incision skills? Nothing." The lieutenant said.

"Surgeon level incision skills?" Emerald asked.

"Yeah. I've only seen a couple people have cutting skills that advanced, surgeons and my mentor." He replied, making Adam roll his eyes at the mention of this so grand mentor.

"Elaborate." Cinder said, making him scowl underneath his mask.

"He's practically a ghost most of the time. Never stuck in one place long and even then he's left no trace he's been there, he mainly stays out of the kingdom's walls and spends most of his time in the wild. Does favors to gain income from various settlements and then leaves. If I didn't train underneath him then I would have never learned how to use my weapon." He explained.

"He sounds like an interesting character, might even be of use to us-" She said.

"He's not." He interrupted making her composure crack slightly at being interrupted.

"Care to elaborate so more?" She asked.

"He holds no loyalty to anyone. When I told him I was joining the White Fang he sent me on my way and never even said goodbye. Not to mention he has a strict soldier code that sometimes sickened me but I've come to respect. And don't bother trying to find him because whenever somebody either catches wind of him or tries to capture him they're usually never heard from again." He informed with crossed arms.

"He ever give his name?" She asked.

"No, he either went by captain or N but other than that nothing." He shook his head. A deep frustrated sigh escaped her lips as she stood up and walked out of the room. This war was tearing her plans apart and it would only get worse. She was unaware of the pain and fear that would strike her core as the war raged on and she finally met that certain someone in the future.

* * *

 **AN: Hey everyone, a long chapter for you guys to satisfy your interest in this story. I really just write this for you guys and to quell my boredom but your guys' support and love is an added bonus so thank you really. I know I've only been updating two stories and neglecting the third but in truth, I'm not. I'm just brainstorming for it while trying to keep a stable balance between writing and life so it's a little difficult to juggle both at the same time. Now onto the reviews.**

 **jkdelta38: Thank you and appreciate the comment.**

 **FantasyRider35: Thank you and I agree with you about the loss. I'm going to have some of them die in the future to try and bring that heartbreak effect to them, at first I wanted to have them all live until you brought up that review and made me reconsider so I thank you for giving me an insight on what you would like to see. I also look forward to your fanfiction that you've made and keep up the good work on it.**

 **serbitor: Thank you for reading it. I hope in the future chapters you'll still be here.**

 **LazyDigitalPh33r: Maybe, maybe not. The world may never know but I enjoyed that little review so thanks for posting it.**

 **CrimsonTiger1: Thanks for the review, appreciate it.**

 **RodentLordSteve: I'm glad I can at least make it appealing to you and thanks for reviewing it.**

 **Well that's all I have for reviews and the chapters, so if it didn't appeal to you then... so fucking be it. I'm not here to have everybody enjoy it, just the ones who do. So if you don't enjoy it then politely leave, but other than that. You all know the golden rule of gears and reviews, so take it easy and have a good one everyone. I'll catch you on the flip side.**


	16. Chapter 16: Little bit of R&R

"Ow. Watch it." Walker groaned as he lied down on his bed while Blake sat on his back popped it. She rolled her eyes and dug her knuckles into the back of his shoulders, then traced them down to the middle of his back and suddenly pressed on his spine, cracking it loudly. This was a norm between him and the girls, they trade massages. She rubbed it some more before she got off and sat on the bed while he just rolled over and looked at the T.V with a flat expression. It had been weeks since they got back from Atlas and the media was all over them. So many eager soldiers from the frozen kingdom had caught wind of the training and were quick to take the test to see if they qualified.

 **"In other news, a new training program in Vale has peaked the interest of some individuals. After these creatures from below struck the surface and waged war, a rapid deployment force known as the 'Gears' were quick to take action. Effectively pushing the threat back and helping Atlas reclaim the kingdom."** Lisa Lavender reported as a picture of the Gears standing guard appeared.. **"Recent reports say that the training is currently being held at Beacon academy and is currently accepting any applicant, training or not."** She added. He sighed and sat up and leaned forward while looking at the ground until he heard the bed creak and looked to see her sitting on the edge with him.

"How're the others?" He asked.

"Cardin and Reese are still not over the boys' deaths yet but the others are getting by, slowly but surely." She replied.

"I'll be there to speak with them later. Tell the others to meet in the kitchen." He said. She nodded and left the room while he just sat on the bed before standing up and sending a quick message to Roman and Neo, telling them to pick another shipment up before taking a couple of days off. The walk to the kitchen was silent as he made his way downstairs and finally ended up in the kitchen area where he saw everyone there, staying silent while sullen expressions were evident on their faces.

"Eyes up." He said and looked as they turned their attention to him. "We lost brothers... I'm going to be frank with you all on that. We lost some of our own to the grubs after they attacked our home, but those two died defending someone else's. I didn't expect them to win the war for us all, God no, but they died doing something that made them stand out from others. For me that's enough. I don't want you all to dwell on the fact that they're dead but rather the fact that they tried to help out as much as they can. They died so you can continue... so honor them by continuing forward and stopping this war from taking others like them." He explained. He saw them bow their heads before wiping away a few tears from their eyes and nodding with a determined look on their faces.

"We'll do it." Cardin sniffled a bit.

"Do it for them and future generations." Walker nodded and stretched a bit before going in the kitchen. The others looked at him then saw that he brought out glasses and poured something inside each one.

"What's this?" Coco asked.

"Your guys' R&R. We just pushed back the locust from one of the most technologically advanced kingdoms of Remnant. Enjoy it while it lasts because times like these aren't common." He answered and pushed a glass towards each of them.

"If it means drinking I'm in." Yang grinned and picked up a glass that had her name on it. Her eyes widened when she realized it was a strawberry sunrise but it tasted a little different, it was sweeter in a sense.

"What'd you put in this?" She smacked her lips a couple of times before taking another sip.

"Some whip cream. Can't really buy hard liquor at this age, seeing as to how I'm a 'celebrity' and apparently drinking under the age will ruin my image." He deadpanned. Honestly, what was the harm in having a few drinks?

"So half the stuff doesn't have alcohol in it?" Weiss asked as she peered closer.

"Not really. Snagged Qrow's flask and took a few drops for flavor though before he snatched it back from me." He said.

"What?! Is that why he was cursing this whole time?" Ruby asked.

"Not my fault he leaves his shit out. If he didn't want it taken then he shouldn't lean on me drunk and burp on my shoulder." He replied, making them give a light laugh.

"How drunk was he?" Jaune asked as he went up and grabbed his drink.

"He was walking in the halls and when Ozpin's voice came on the intercom he started kissing the ground and shouting 'Oum has spoken to me oh fair lady!'" Walker explained. This drew a laugh from everyone as they grabbed the glasses and started to drink, beaming internally when it seemed to calm them down as they gathered around the T.V in the living room area while Walker was still in the kitchen, leaning on the counter as they watched the news.

"Hey look! It's us!" Nora pointed at the picture next to Lisa as she continued her report about the Gears.

 **"After a recent interview with the Atlas council, it seems they are on board with the new program and will discuss further arrangements with the council of Vale. One of our interviewers in Atlas had just barely managed to ask questions about the program before they left for Vale." Lisa reported and her face vanished while a recording of a man in a combat vest with a coat on while he held his head to keep his helmet from slipping off as he reported the area behind him. The distant sound of gunfire could be heard and made him duck down a bit as rubble landed on the top of his helmet.**

 **"Here we are in Atlas where a massive gunfight can be heard, I must warn you that the content that is going to be shown is graphic and should not be shown to younger audience." The man reported as he stepped out of the alleyway and into the street, shortly followed by the camera man as they carefully walked through the streets while the camera panned towards the various bodies that littered the streets and rubble was spread across the ground and some of it crushing cars. Buildings had large holes and threatened to collapse while others were still on fire and blood could be seen on the ground. The two walked for a quick second before they rounded a corner and were immediately swarmed by multiple marines with their guns aimed.**

 **"Whoa! I'm a journalist!" The man waved his hands, trying to get them to lower their weapons but didn't seem to be working.**

 **"Weapons down marines... it's just the press." Walker's voice came out from the back. The marines lowered their weapons reluctantly before stepping aside as the cameraman followed the journalist through the street while he recorded the area around them. Eventually they came across Walker's form as he was explaining to a squad of marines while Winter stood a few feet away and threw some hand signals at other marines.**

 **"Excuse me sir-" The journalist stopped when Walker stuck up his hand up and continued to explain to the squad before waving them off and turning to the two reporters.**

 **"What can I help you with?" He sighed while having his Lancer lowered.**

 **"Ahem, we're from Vale News Network. We've come to ask you some questions about the Gears program. I assume you are one of them." The journalist asked, holding the microphone close to Walker.**

 **"I'm the leader..." He deadpanned, making the journalist blink in surprise.**

 **"Oh... well. Do you think we could discuss the program right now?" The man asked.**

 **"Three questions. That's it." Walker said as he put his Lancer on his back and crossed his arms.**

 **"Okay. Do you plan to spread your program to any other kingdoms?" The man asked.**

 **"If they're compliant enough then yes. Two." Walker counted.**

 **"Will you let just anyone join your group?" The man asked.**

 **"Like everyone else, they need to pass a test. I'm not just going to let anyone join because they want to." Walker answered, craning his head to the right when a marine whispered next to him and then left shortly after. "Last question, hurry up and ask it." He gestured.**

 **"What is your opinion on the current White Fang activities?" The journalist asked.**

 **"They're stupid for thinking violence will bring them equality. You don't bring peace through terrorism, you bring it through understanding. Yet what do I know?" Walker shrugged.**

 **"Alright... what is-" The journalist stopped when Walker stuck his hand in front of the camera lens and blocked the view.**

 **"You've already asked your three questions. Now get out of here because we're not finished yet securing the area yet. Alpha, lead these two out through the subway." He ordered as the marines grabbed the two and began to lead them silently back the way they came before the footage cut off and Lisa's face came back on.**

 **"While the interview with the leader was brief, he has answered some questions to the council recently and is rumored to meet with the council later this week." She reported.**

The T.V switched channels as everyone looked at Walker, who was busy on his scroll before looking up to see everyone looking at him. Their stares were blank before he sighed and closed his game then pocketed his scroll.

"Since when do you go to council meetings?" Flynt asked.

"I've always gone to council meetings when I'm required. It's how I got this whole program off the ground, half of our funding is from them." Walker answered.

"So wait... wait, wait, wait... where does the other funding come from?" Coco asked.

"From me." He answered. All went silent for a minute before their mouths slowly lowered then eventually went slack as they stared longer.

"WHAT?!" They all exclaimed at the same time, making his ears ring from the sound.

"My fucking ears..." He winced, shaking his head slightly.

"Where and how did you get enough money?! And how have you been getting income?!" Weiss exclaimed.

"I've been supplying Atlas with some of the weapons from Sera. Not to mention the income I'm going to be receiving when the new recruits get shipped in. I get payed a lot for doing that then you all get paid from me." He explained, grabbing a bottle from the fridge and set in on the counter with a dull clank.

"No way. I don't believe it for a second." Sun said.

"Look in your account." Walker said. Throwing a smirk when they all checked their accounts and saw money inside of them before looking at him then back at their accounts again, then back at him.

"In case you're wondering about the money, it's for yourselves. Consider this as your allowance, it covers you're food, clothing, housing, weapon enhancements and income for your families." He explained.

"I like the sound of that." Coco grinned.

"It's for the necessary things Coco, not for a shopping spree. I've caught wind of your little 'sprees'." He deadpanned, making her laugh nervously and take a sip of her drink. They all sat around the T.V for a while and watched it for a few hours before Nora spoke up.

"Hey Walker, you talked about Sera sometimes. What was it like there?" She asked, peaking everyone's interest while he just leaned against the couch as Blake and Ruby leaned on his shoulders.

"Sera?" Neon asked, voicing the thoughts of the others. They always thought Walker was just a normal person from Remnant, so what was this Sera Nora was referring to?

"It's the place I'm from." He answered.

"What are you talking about? I thought you came from Patch?" Gwen asked.

"That's a lie I tell the public." He answered.

"So what is Sera?" Nebula asked.

"My home in a sense. In other words-" He started.

"It's his home world because he's an alien!" Nora exclaimed, making them all raise an eyebrow.

"Nora, he's not an alien. If he was then-" Sage said.

"She's not wrong Sage. I'm from Sera, in case you're wondering it's another planet. Twenty-six hour day with four-hundred and fifty-seven days a year." He stated, tilting his helmet up and taking a sip out of the bottle.

"Wait... so let me get this straight. There is life on other planets?" Nebula asked.

"Seems so. Why do you all think I know so much about the locust? Sera fought them for seventeen years, they've been there since... shit I don't know how long they've been there. I'm going to assume they've been there before the pendulum wars." He said as he tapped the underside of his helmet.

"How long was that?" Fox asked.

"Seventy-nine years." Walker answered nonchalantly. He quickly wiped the back of his neck when he felt someone spit their drink out and turned into a coughing fit before slamming their chest roughly.

"Oum Walker!" Arslan exclaimed.

"Yeah... that was Sera. Violent but beautiful. We were a militaristic world, we fought for our country, our lives, our families. When you go into the military, you form a bond greater than friendship. You form brotherhood. We protected our fellow Gears as if we were born with them. That's why I want you all to protect each other out there, when we are here at base we are friends, but on that field we are family." He explained.

"Sera was like that in their military?" Velvet asked.

"Sometimes. You always had those few... bad apples." He said quietly, thinking about the horrors both the COG and the stranded committed.

"Other than that what was it like? I mean culture wise." Ren said.

"I never really paid any attention to the culture but I'm from Tyrus, which is a nation mind you, which would make me half Tyran since my mother was from Kashkur. But we were rich in culture, valuing a lot of things and equality." Walker explained. The girls knew that tone of his when he spoke about his parents and decided to change the subject.

"What's the weather like there?" Ruby asked.

"Like the weather here. Sunny, rainy, snowy, hot, humid, cold, the works. Only difference here is that you all don't have razor hail." He answered.

"That doesn't sound so scary." Nolan said.

"Alright, you try going out into hail that is extremely similar to a razor blade, see how that works. It hurts by the way." Walker retorted.

"There's no way." Nolan replied. Walker clicked his tongue and nodded before standing up and taking off his shirt, tracing his finger along a small set of scars near his shoulder before finding them and tapping it a few times. They peered closer and saw a few scars that looked like they had been deep lacerations at one point, the skin had been healed for some time now.

"Got these when I was fourteen. Then got some more on my legs when I was sixteen, by that time I pretty much looked like a walking mosaic. This information is highly confidential by the way." He said.

"Let's see them." Yang said.

"No." He answered.

"Yes Walker. I want to see them scars." She replied.

"I'm not taking off my pants Yang." He deadpanned.

"Oh come on! You've seen me, Ruby, and Blake in just towels before." She whined, making the other two's faces turn red. Half the guys dropped their jaws and looked at him incredulously.

"That's because I look at the wrong time. You did it intentionally and prompted me to shove my face in your tits, which were a lot softer than I expected." He said, tapping his chin. Someone else spit up their drink and began laughing while Yang's cocky face turned embarrassed and red at the same time. "I mean seriously, they were like pillows. Hmm, maybe Blake and Ruby's will be like that." He wondered.

"H-hold up! I-I never agreed to be p-put on the spot!" Ruby stammered out.

"Me neither!" Blake exclaimed.

"But I am. So you three are in this now. Weiss I can't say anything about you because the most skin you've shown is your collar bones, though that should be good enough. Maybe-" He chanted.

"I will freeze your balls solid if you continue." She threatened, making the guys go wide eyed and cover their family jewels.

"Hmm... That would make me want to make a pun but due to the fact that you threatened my boys down there, I'll have to come up with something else." He tapped his chin before taking another drink.

"Walker. What are you doing?!" Jaune asked.

"Hold on, I'm thinking..." He waved.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked with narrowed eyes.

"I mean you've tried to be sneaky and get changed in the room while I was asleep but ultimately failed. Who would've guessed you wore blue panti-" He suddenly jumped over the couch when she sent a knife towards him. She quickly grabbed the knife from the cushion and chased him out the door while the others burst out laughing and turned their attention back to the T.V.

"You think he'll be okay?" Yang asked.

"He'll be fine. Remember when he showed you all that video of me sleeping upright?" Blake asked. Earning a few nods from everyone. "He practically ran the whole ten minutes, so the worst that'll happen is he tires her out." She explained.

"That's understandable." Jaune nodded and turned his attention back to the T.V.

* * *

"GET BACK HERE SO I CAN CASTRATE YOU!" Weiss shouted as she chased him throughout the courtyard.

"NO! I want my family jewels! " He shouted back, jumping to the side when a glyph appeared beneath his feet. He suddenly slid on his knees and bent his back towards the ground when he heard another glyph being conjured and Weiss' form sky rocket over his and roll on the ground a few times before springing up and chasing him once again. They ran around the courtyard for ten minutes while avoiding the students and saying a quick hi to Port as he moved out of the way before they entered the training grounds. He quickly turned off the lights and jumped in the pool as quietly as he could, his helmet lights flickered off and all was quiet for a minute. After thirty seconds he heard the light the sound of footsteps and saw the lights turn on before he swam to a dark part of the pool to avoid detection. He blew out a few bubbles to let his lungs release some of the pressure that was building up, buying him some more time underwater. More footsteps made themselves known and stopped before the sound of voices could be heard, he looked up and saw Goodwitch with some individuals. Weiss then appeared next to her and spoke to her while some of the White Fang sent her glares while marines stared at them as she just turned her attention back to the professor nonchalantly. A boar faunus stepped up and was about to bark out an insult until he stopped and felt a hand wrap around his ankle, prompting him to look to his left, only to blank when he saw Walker's soulless stare gaze at him from underneath the water. Everyone else looked and scooted back when his form slowly ascended and his hand curled around the edge of the pool.

"You threatening one of my Gears boar?" He asked in a cool hollow tone.

"No sir." The boar gulped.

"Good, because if you were... I'd have to kill you." Walker replied in the same tone, silently chuckling when he felt the faunus above shiver.

"Walker, enough." Glynda scolded. He kept his hand on the faunus' leg before releasing it and treading in the water for a second before climbing up slowly, sitting on the edge of the pool.

"Oh come on Professor, I was just mucking around." He said, taking off his shoes and getting rid of excess water before putting them back on.

"That doesn't excuse you from possibly traumatizing the recruits." She said.

"But that's half the fun though... and I thought they were supposed to come next week?" He asked.

"The council wants as many Gears trained as possible so they can report back to their kingdom." She said.

"So I have to rush the training... shit. well, I'm not training them until next Tuesday though." He said.

"I understand Friday due to our meeting with the council but why not Monday?" She asked.

"Roman said Junior has some information regarding a weapons shipment coming in." He answered.

"May I ask why you're talking to a criminal?" She asked with narrowed eyes.

"Hey, he's an information broker and his intel is solid. Roman doesn't lie to me seeing as to how he knows what'll happen if he double crosses me." He shrugged.

"Sweet Oum Walker, you can't just go around talking to criminals." She facepalmed.

"I did it with Roman and Neo, now look at them. They're some of my best agents, well associates... I would more or less call them that since they're not my friends and they just provide me with weapons." He waved.

"Sometimes I wonder about you." She sighed.

"My methods or my sanity?" He asked.

"Both." She answered.

"Don't worry about them. I don't and look how that turns out." He gestured to himself.

"Wet?" A marine asked.

"No, perfectly fine." He corrected.

"Walker, your dwindling sanity isn't something to be proud of. It's concerning." Glynda said.

"Eh." He shrugged nonchalantly. It was a good day today and he wouldn't let the talk about his mental issues bring him down for now, he felt someone tap his shoulder and saw Weiss glare at him and raise her knife before yelping when he suddenly gripped her wrist and bent her arm behind her back and pulled up. She struggled for a second before she closed her eyes and loosened her body then suddenly wrapped her leg around his and flipped him over while he just looked up at her.

"Seems you've learned from last time. Good job... and for the love of God, stop trying to stab me Weiss. I'm clearly going to disarm you before you can do anything." He said as he stood up.

"I'm still going to try." She said and did an overhead stab at him but widened her eyes when he grabbed her forearm and hit her palm, sending the knife high into the air before kicking her in the chest and sending her flying back. The knife twirled towards them and he quickly caught it in a reverse grip and spun around to grab her in a choke hold and place the knife against her throat while he kept his left hand on her forehead.

"Nine seconds, work on your reaction time and you'll be good." He instructed before letting her go while twirling the knife between his fingers. The others stared wide-eyed at the exchange between the two, he managed to put her in that position in twelve seconds and fluid too.

"Can I have my knife back?" She asked with her hand out.

"You going to stab me?" He asked.

"No." She answered.

"...Fine. Though if you stab me I'm going to be pissed." He replied, giving her back her knife. She tucked in the back of her hip and sent him a small glare before huffing and turning away, walking back to the dorm house.

"I assume you're going to help me tour them around?" Glynda asked.

"Not trying to be rude but why?" He asked.

"Because I need help and we did this last time, it'll only take twenty minutes." She said.

"Fine. But after twenty minutes I'm going back, it's burger and movie night and I'm not going to miss it." He said, setting a timer on his scroll and nodding towards them. Both of them began to show the new recruits around the training grounds, stopping every so often to explain something before continuing the tour. It seemed that some of the marines were shying away from the White Fang and that was understandable, both sides were on the opposite end for years and them just being converged together like this was going to take some getting used to. As the tour seemed to drone on they finally ended at his favorite part, CQB training grounds. They entered the grounds and noticed how pristine it was, but upon closer inspection they could see bullet holes and burn marks covering the walls.

"Your guys' grounds are suspiciously clean." A White Fang said.

"Because we clean up after ourselves. Doesn't mean we're clean on the battlefield." Walker answered, smirking when the timer was close to hitting zero. "Three... two... one." He counted.

"What are you counting for-" Glynda suddenly stopped when the combat drones suddenly turned on and doors around them burst open. Everybody except Walker hit the ground as the Gears entered and began firing into the bots, rendering them into nothing but sparks and lumps of metal. As the gunfire finally died down and all was silent for a second Glynda was the first one to stand up and scold the Gears that were wearing ballistic masks on.

"What is wrong with you all?! You could have killed them!" She scolded, seeing some of them shuffle around uncomfortably. "And take off those masks!" She shouted at them. All of them took off their masks and all the newcomers widened their eyes at the Gears, they were all kids. While they had seen footage of them in action they had never seen them up close before, now that they saw how young they were they sort of had their doubts.

"You all are kids?!" Somebody said.

"Yeah? You act like that's such a shocker." Nora said.

"I thought you all were in at least your mid twenties!" They replied.

"Whaaat? That's silly. Of course we're not that old... does that mean I look old?! Ren! Do I look old to you?!" Nora asked frantically as she shook him back and forth.

"No... Nora... you... don't..." He said between shakes before patting her head as she hyperventilated.

"While it was fun traumatizing the recruits, you all need to go back and enjoy your R&R. We have some missions next week." Walker said.

"Grimm or locust? Please tell me it's Grimm." Ruby said.

"It's Grimm." He nodded.

"Yes! Bye Walker, hope you have fun with training!" She replied as she used her semblance to shoot back towards the dorm house while the others waved and left.

"I hope you have something to get you out of this." Glynda said as she turned towards Walker.

"Not really. Just wanted to give them a little taste at what the kind of shit we do." He shrugged.

"I would rather you just show them." She sighed.

"They'll get a taste of it soon enough. After all, we get down and dirty when no one else will." He replied.

"So we're basically wet workers?" Someone asked.

"No... maybe... I don't know honestly. Though I haven't done a mission like that in a long time. Hey Ms. Goodwitch, is there any wet work missions?" Walker asked.

"No Walker, there isn't. And I would appreciate it if you stay away from those kinds of missions, they're dangerous." She said making him give a deadpan expression.

"Really Ms Goodwitch? You're talking to a kid who's entire life has been exposed to the darker side of life and has killed numerous people and locust before." He deadpanned back.

"Exactly the reason I want you staying away from those kinds of missions. Now help me finish this tour so I can get back to teaching." She said.

"Fine, but if it cuts out the movie then I'm going to be pissed." He pointed.

"You'll be fine." She said flatly while he just shrugged and continued the tour while occasionally pointing out the little things but otherwise remained silent until the end of the tour, to which he finally saw how many recruits there were in total, over seventy recruits that needed to be trained within two months. This was going to take a lot longer than two months if he wanted them ready.

"You uh... you never told me there was this many." He commented.

"That going to be a problem?" She asked.

"Yeah, it is. It took me damn near three months to train thirty people, how long do you think it's going to take me to train over seventy?" He asked.

"Just by that time." She answered.

"Ms. Goodwitch, look. I took the time to break everyone down and rebuild them back up, I'll need help training them then." He said.

"Then get some of the others to help you." She said, making him go quiet for a while before nodding.

"That's actually not a bad idea, thanks professor." He thanked and watched as she left and he turned towards the recruits, who just stared at him. "Alright everyone, next Tuesday is your first official day of training! So I want you all up at 0600 and not a second later or there'll be hell to pay! Now since there's not enough room in the dorm house or barracks, some of you will need to squeeze in to accommodate. Otherwise welcome to hell and may you survive the training and become Gears. Good luck because you all are going to need it, dismissed!" Walker announced and watched as they began to fan out, looking like confused first years instead of grown men and women. He chuckled at their confusion before walking back to the dorm house at a comfortable pace while whistling a low tune for a minute as he made his way there. The walk took five minutes to get there but when he entered and it to smell cooking. Jaune and Ren were in the kitchen with Flynt and Nebula cooking something on the stove while everyone else was in the living room area but there was one thing wrong with this entire picture... the food was on fire.

"Flynt! How the hell do you burn something like that?!" Jaune shouted.

"I don't know! Just help me with this though! We need to get this covered before Walker gets here!" He shouted back.

"I'm already here dipshits... what the fuck were you four cooking?" He asked, picking up a fire extinguisher and putting out the flames.

"Nothing..." Nebula said.

"Stop bullshitting, it smells like you tried to cook a grubs heart with a scorcher in here." He commented.

"How do you know what that smells like?" Ren asked.

"Did it before, now why does it smell in here?" Walker asked again.

"We were trying to cook fish and burgers." Jaune admitted.

"Boy..." Walker clapped and rubbed his hands together before pointing at them and making a scooting gesture. He scrunched up his nose and threw the burnt fish and threw it in the garbage and placed butter in one pan and the hamburger in a mixing bowl.

"Walker! I'm hungry!" Ruby whined as she entered the kitchen and slapped her forehead against his shoulder.

"We're cooking Ruby, there's some food in the fridge and ice cream in the freezer if you're that hungry." He replied.

"No! I want the food now!" She pouted.

"Ruby... I literally just started, it's going to be a minute. If you want this to go faster then you can help out." He sighed.

"That sounds boring." She murmured.

"Alright, fine then." He said and washed his hands for a second. After he dried them he picked her up bridal style and plopped her on the couch, quickly shoving one of his games in her face and watched as her pupils dilated when she saw his world on Grimm legends. She tucked her legs underneath her and began to tap the screen rapidly, giggling when she saw some of his monsters in their habitats. Once she was squared away and ready, he went back into the kitchen and began to cook with the rest of them in silence, flipping the burgers and putting them on buns while doing the same to the fish. Neon grabbed the first plate but narrowed her eyes when Blake did the same, their eyes locked and their hair began to stand; Blake's ears stood straight up as she hissed while Neon's tail straightened as she hissed also. Everyone began to stare at the two's exchange and began to cheer when Blake first pulled then Neon did the same, eventually they're pulling got to the point where they almost broke the plate with how tight they were holding it. All of a sudden they both collided when the plate was grabbed from their grasp when Nora took it and ate the fish in front of them before skipping back to her seat while humming.

"That was pretty good Robot man." She stuck a thumbs up.

"Glad you liked it. Blake and Neon would have enjoyed it had they not been fighting over it." Walker jabbed his thumb towards the stock still forms forms of the two, who still had their mouths open. Everyone laughed at them before they shook themselves out and were suddenly next to him, both pouting and looking at him expectantly.

"I want fish." Blake said.

"Me too." Neon nodded.

"I _did_ cook you guys fish but you fought over it. Personally I don't think I should cook anymore fish, what do you guys think?" He asked everyone, all of them gestured maybe with their hands. Both girls glared at them then turned back to Walker with puppy dog eyes, everybody else fell underneath their gaze and turned away while coughing in their hand while he just stared unaffected.

"Please?" Neon asked.

"..." He remained silent and they thought they were winning until he said one word that made their world shatter like a dropped glass cup. "...Nope." He grinned.

"W-what?" Blake said.

"Nope. You want a fish then you either make it yourself or help me. Seeing as to how none of you, except the few in the kitchen, want to help me then I guess I'm just cooking for select few." Walker said nonchalantly. Some of them groaned and got up to help him cook while the others shrugged and turned their attention back to the TV. Over the course of an hour the ones that had gotten food were sitting in the living room area watching a movie while Walker took one last glance at them and smirked before he grabbed his scroll from Ruby and went to a secluded corner of the room near the hall and looked at his scroll. He saw that there was three missed calls from Rachel and four from Tai and Summer, making him sigh and tap Rachel's icon, hearing the scroll ring for a minute before shuffling could be heard and Rachel's tired voice could be heard.

"Hello?" She asked quietly.

"Hey kiddo. Did I wake you?" He asked.

"Not really. Grandma said that she's been trying to reach you for a while now, it's about my nightmares." She said, making him sigh.

"Tell me about them." He said and began to listen as she told him about each one she encountered, the fear and paranoia she was facing when the locust emerged and she immediately recognized them when they took her family, to the point where Menagerie was placed under a strict rule by the chieftain to avoid causalities. The next hour was just him listening to her silently while giving the occasional tip for dealing with each problem she had. Her biggest problem was what she was going to do if her grandmother passed away and left her alone in the world.

"I don't know what I'm going to do. These things are everywhere and what if they come to Menagerie? What are we supposed to do then?" She asked fearfully.

"Listen kid, we don't know where we're being stationed next, there's a possibility that we'll be there but chances are slim. Just in case they are going there we'll be there shortly after, after all... we were in Atlas within days of hearing about it." He said.

"But you all took weeks to get there." She corrected.

"I was still training them. It's a lot harder than it seems." He said.

"By yourself?" She asked in awe.

"By myself. I have to train seventy more in two months which puts a lot of strain on me but luckily I've got some help this time." He said.

"Wow!" She said, making him chuckle.

"Yeah listen kid, I got to go. I'm spending some time with everyone and we're on our down time, if you need anything then call me tomorrow." He said.

"Okay, bye Walker!" She said cheerfully and hung up while he just cracked a smile and noticed how quiet it was before quickly turning around to see a mass of figures quickly stumble over each other and groans could be heard as he walked to the corner to see everyone, except Blake and Jaune, on the ground in a pile. He pressed his lips together and stared at them as they collected themselves and shakily looked up to see him staring, flashing nervous smiles at him.

"Ten laps." He said, making them all groan and grumble before going back into the living room area to finish the movie then put on another one. This was the first day they'd have some relaxation, the rest was scheduled for Saturday.

* * *

The sound of a shower running was the only noise in the room at the moment. Several minutes had passed and the shower was still running before it stopped with a squeaking noise, the sound of the door opening and closing was next as Walker stretched a bit then began to put his pants on, sighing when he heard glass breaking outside his room and stepped into it. He picked up his scroll and checked the messages to see Ozpin had sent him a text of when the meeting was going to start and end. He walked to the door and opened it to see Neo and Roman standing there, the former smiling widely at him while the latter looked tired to the point of barely functioning.

"Why the hell are you guys at my door?" He asked.

"Neo wanted to see if we were going to still come along with you to the council meeting." Roman said tiredly.

"You know I am so why ask?" Walker asked.

"I stopped questioning her sometimes, all it does it lead to headaches, which leads to drinking, which leads to even more headaches." Roman sighed.

"Sounds like a you problem, well you might as well get inside before one of the recruits thinks you're breaking in. Some of them are clearly kiss asses and would do anything to prove their worth to me." He said as he stepped inside and watched as Neo was all too eager to enter while Roman shuffled in, going and sitting on the bed.

"Hope you don't mind me lying on your bed." He slurred and leaned back.

"I'm going to have to burn my sheets then." Walker said.

"Funny..." He said tiredly before snoring quietly while sprawled out. Neo silently laughed at her partner's state then began to look around the room, taking in every detail and widening her eyes when she saw a very nasty looking blade sitting on his desk, his personal knife he used to stab her a long time ago. She quietly stood up and walked up to the desk while Walker was in the closet and picked up his knife, feeling how heavy it was and understanding why Roman had such a hard time deflecting these. The blade was extremely sharp and the bottom side with five jagged edges before it curved into a smooth finish near the hilt that was wrapped in a cloth. It was set down near his laptop and her eyes caught sight of a picture of him on some beach kneeling down with a little boy flashing a smile next to him, she tilted her head then flipped the picture over to read the small little note that looked like it was written by a child.

 **Big brother Walker finishing the fight for everyone. You will forever be my hero. - Ajay**

Her lips pressed together and she set the picture back in its original place before reaching for a journal near the picture, picking it up and tried opening it... only to furrow her brows when it wouldn't even budge. She clicked her tongue and reached inside her pocket for a lock pick and jiggled it around but widened her eyes in agitation when it wasn't even making a dent. What kind of lock is this?!

"For the accomplice of a thief, you are terrible at being quiet." She jumped and threw the journal up in the air making him catch it in one hand and place it back on the desk while he stared at her smaller form with both arms crossed. Her scroll was brought out and she quickly typed a message.

 _"Okay, look. I haven't been in my game recently. I'm practicing."_ She said.

"So you decided my personal belongings was fair game? Get real, you may have been a smuggler and bodyguard in the past when you worked for Cinder but under my command you are nothing but a subordinate loyal to me. So we're going to lay down some ground rules... you play nice and I won't skin you alive and watch as you slowly bleed to death but I'll spare Roman also. I might take your eyes as a trophy to stare at when I'm bored." He said gleefully, making her gulp and back away while nodding furiously. He stared at her for a minute before his shoulders started bouncing and a quiet chuckle rumbled from his chest until it turned into a laugh as he set his elbow on the top of her head, much to her annoyance.

"Wow, it's amazing how many people get scared off of that... Phew." He let out the compressed air from his helmet and wiped a tear away. She quickly got from underneath his elbow and pouted up at him while he just laughed at her face and flicked her forehead. Most men from the underground knew of Neo's reputation as a sadistic enforcer who was damn near unbeatable, some often had dreams of even talking to her while others had nightmares of them being picked for her psychotic games. Half of them would shit themselves if they even caught a glimpse of what was happening right now, only a complete insane person would even dare laying a finger on her if they valued life.

 _"Do you have a death wish?"_ She typed and glared at him while a smile was forming on his face.

"Maybe, maybe not. Depends on if I break before the war ends, if we were to duke it out then I'm pretty sure you'd win as far as speed and agility but I'd win in outlasting you. I prefer to wear my opponents down little by little until they're nothing but a tired sack of shit on the ground, then I'd break them physically, emotionally, and finally psychologically. It's really something special when your opponent is a blubbering mess of hysteria while crying out for whatever god they worship to save them. Point is Neo... I prefer to toy with my victims sometimes before I kill them, it makes the kill all the more savoring. So go ahead. Make... my... day..." He said as he began to slowly tower over her and cover her in his shadow until there was nothing left to see except the blue helmet lights that seemed to glow malevolently. Her knees buckled at his figure and a small squeak escaped her lips the longer she stared at him before she turned away from his gaze and felt his figure go past her her and into the closet until he came back out in his uniform. A knock on the door was heard and she walked to it to come face to face with Blake, who blinked a second before her eyes hardened as she stared at the smaller girl.

"What are you doing here?" She practically hissed.

"They came here for the council meeting, and before you ask, no they didn't try anything." Walker said as Blake sent one last hardened stare before she walked up to him and started to fix his tie for him, smiling a bit when he let out the occasional comment. Neo looked at Blake and noticed that she was wearing practically the same thing but had a skirt on instead of pants, why was she here instead of all those brats?

"You sure nobody else wanted to come? This is a really big deal." Walker said.

"I'm sure Walker. Ruby and Yang are going to be visiting their parents while Weiss will be showing Winter where she'll be staying, most likely in our room knowing Weiss." Blake replied, tugging on his tie a bit.

"Since when is Winter training here?" He asked.

"Since today, she plans on coming with us to the meeting." She replied.

"I thought you said that Weiss was showing her around?" He asked.

"After Weiss shows her around is what I meant to say. I thought you knew e _verything_?" She teased.

"I may be smart but I'm no clairvoyant. I do know that you purr when scratched behind the ear near the base and that you sometimes will sleep in the sun while reading a book. I know Ruby likes to sneak in the middle of the night and take my ice-cream, Yang likes to try and make Jaune piss himself by sticking his hand in warm water, and Weiss likes to write in her diary. You girls are highly predictable." He said, earning him a light slap on the chest.

"As are you. You like to get up in the middle of the night to either lift weights or punch your knuckles raw, screw with the others without any reason, write in your journal, and sleep when you want to." She listed.

"Huh, would you look at that. Kitty pays attention to her master." He jabbed, making her face heat up.

"I hate you sometimes." She muttered.

"You know you love me, plus it's kind of rude because someone is here to ruin the moment." He said, turning his gaze to Neo, who blinked in surprise then pointed to herself.

"Only person who's awake and listening. Why are you even in his room?" Blake asked dryly.

 _"Because I can. Not to mention we have a meeting with the council with you two. Roman's probably going to fall asleep halfway through."_ Neo replied.

"Well tough luck. He falls asleep then the council won't take us seriously. Plus your guys' prison sentence relies on this meeting, so make sure you're on your best behavior." He said making her eyes widen and look at Roman, who was still asleep.

"When is the meeting anyways?" Blake asked.

"At ten, so we have a couple of hours to kill, give or take." He said as he looked at his watch.

"Hmm. I'm going to breakfast." She said.

"I'll be right behind you." He replied as she nodded and left the room. He turned around to see Neo look at him with a smug smile and type something on her scroll and flip it around to show him.

 _"Do I see two love birds? Thinking about having a couple of kittens together? Can I be the godmother to them?"_ She teased.

"Sure. As soon as you get out of your long prison sentence." He bit back sarcastically. She gave a mute giggle and watched as he left the room shortly after telling them to be ready in an hour, giving a small threat to make sure they got out of his room and left everything there.

* * *

Blake grabbed a few eggs and cracked them open then placed them in a bowl, whisking it with a few spices for seasoning before placing the whisked yolk in the pan and began to cook it. The sound of sizzling was all that was heard for a while. After a few minutes she heard footsteps and saw Walker enter the kitchen and do the same thing, but he put milk in his eggs and whisked them while adding spices, then he opened the fridge and placed a slice of honey ham on the cooking egg. It smelled like seasoning throughout the whole complex, which woke a few of the others who stumbled into the living room area and sat on the sofa.

"Hey Walker?" Blake asked.

"Hmm?" He hummed as he flipped half the egg to cover the other.

"Where'd you learn to cook like that?" She asked.

"I learned from my grandma. She was a baker that owned her own shop near downtown Jacinto. Every morning she would get me up for school and cook me breakfast, usually an omelet with ham and sometimes just give me some cereal." He reminisced.

"What was your school like?" She asked.

"Elementary or middle?" He asked.

"Both." She answered.

"Elementary was okay, I was quiet for the most part. Though sometimes a trouble maker." He said.

"Really?" She asked.

"Yep, never talked to anyone. I mainly usually played by myself in the playground with a thrashball and usually shied away from others when I was called upon." He said.

"Surely there was someone who wanted to hang out with you." She said.

"Nope, I was really small, the shortest in my class and always did everything alone. I mainly drew pictures of the trees and stuff, had a little notepad that had all my pictures I've drawn and would later show my mom when she came home." He replied. She couldn't help but feel a small sliver of pity for him, someone who was outgoing as him was alone as a child?

"What else did you have a problem with?" She asked.

"I actually had a small stuttering problem when I was talked to." He said.

"That's actually very cute." She smirked.

"Heh, some people thought so too. Others found it annoying when I had to give a speech off of my paper and I stuttered after every few sentences." He said.

"Could you help it?" She asked.

"No, it was a problem my dad helped me get out of. My mom always spoiled me about it though, pinching my cheeks and everything." He said, making her give a light giggle.

"You must have been a good kid." She said.

"I was innocent as shit though. When I was five I ended up sleeping in my parent's bed for a month because I couldn't get over a nightmare because they told me about that fucking bedtime story. My dad would always carry me back to my bed when I fell asleep though, was one of the few times I actually remember him just being... my dad. He wasn't some elite Gear but just a dad who cared for his family more than anything. He even told me he specifically turned down multiple missions so he could convince my mom to spend more time with us." He said quietly. She looked at him and noticed that he had stopped paying attention to his food and turned off the burner, placing her hand on his wrist.

"It's good that you're talking Walker. I know we constantly push you to talk to us about your problems and we're sorry but all of us see that you're suffering. We don't want to see someone as good as you fall under, if you don't want to talk about your problems then talk about the stuff that made you happy." She said.

"Heh, you would be a good therapist you know?" He chuckled.

"Meh, what else did you do?" She asked.

"When I wasn't doing anything and it was raining, I would throw on my dark blue raincoat and splash in the puddles with my toy boat." He said.

"Oh? Did you have fun?" She giggled.

"Yeah, I did. It was fun until I hit my head on a roadblock sign. I think I cried for like ten minutes before my mom carried me home after I was gone for an hour." He said as he .

"That's adorable." She said.

"Yep, that was me. Innocent." He said. All she could do was shake her head at him and walk towards the table, sitting down and eating her food as he joined her shortly after. Both ate in silence until they heard shuffling and saw Ruby stumble in the kitchen with disheveled hair then sit down next to Blake, before face planting into the table with a loud thud. Blake sighed and set Ruby's head against her shoulder and quietly ate her food while Walker just gave a small laugh and finished his food as he set it in the sink. He sat back down at the table and was on his scroll for a minute while Blake read her book in silence as they waited for time to pass, an hour had passed by until Ruby finally woke up and smacked her lips but when she looked at the table there was a note from Blake saying that they had left for the council meeting and would be back later that day.

"Darn, I wanted to go too." She pouted but gave a mischievous and opened the freezer to see Walker's ice-cream in the back, bringing it out and opening it... only to find it empty with a note at the bottom.

 _Stop taking my damn ice cream Ruby. It's getting annoying having to go to the store and pick up a new tub only to find it gone the next day. So either stop taking my ice cream or I'm eating your cookie stash. - Your favorite Gear, Walker_

"I don't know why he's complaining about it when I only took a spoonful, Yang's the one that's been eating it." She said, smirking when she went in the fridge to take his sandwich. Only to frown when that had a note on it too.

 _And stop taking my sandwiches. For the love of God Ruby, if you want my food so bad then just ask me to make you something. Stop stealing my fucking stuff. - Walker._ The other note read, making her gape and throw her hands in the air while letting out a whine in annoyance and kick her foot. How the hell did he even know about it?!

"Whatever. I'm sure Pyrrha has something I can eat." She said and began to raid the fridge for other people's stuff. Not caring one bit as she tossed the contents out haphazardly, she didn't notice the two parents enter the room and stare at her with crossed arms while tapping their feet.

* * *

The ride to the council was silent and comfortable as the occupants either spent their time on their scrolls or read something, only two were bored out of their minds, while one was in the co-pilot's seat along with the pilot. Ash had given Walker a name tag on his seat as a gift for keeping him around while the latter had given the former his own set of COG tags but had a bullhead symbol in the center to show that he was part of the Gears. Needless to say the older man was in eternal gratitude and had almost shed a tear at the gift, he knew that the Gears were gaining fame and it may have seemed like they loved it, some of them didn't like being put on the spot. That's what made him respect them, they knew the fame would cloud their judgement and hinder their performance which is why they've been doing so well.

"Alright people, we should be arriving in five minutes." He said, making Port sigh in relief.

"Thank goodness, I almost fell asleep there." He patted his head.

"You did fall asleep dear friend, for twenty minutes too." Oobleck chimed in.

"It's certainly not my fault this transport rides so smooth." Port said.

"That's one of the perks of this thing. It rides smoother than lake water, hell it even is quiet which makes it good for sneaking past the Reavers." Ash said as he slowly set the transport down.

"I see you've made some arrangements to it, adding weapons and tagging it with the Gear symbol. Care to explain?" Ozpin asked curiously.

"The ride itself was a gift from the General while the weapons part the kid helped me add. Believe it or not, he knows his shit about a vehicle." Ash answered as everybody looked at Walker, who was in the co-pilot's seat, but saw that he was talking to someone on his scroll. He nodded his head and got off it before hitting a few switches near the top and nodded at Ash and he nodded back before they both set the dropship down on the pad gracefully. The others stood up and waited for the door to open but raised their eyebrows when it didn't. Ash quickly got up and hit the button near the top of the door two times and watched it turn green and the bay door open before he walked back to his seat and went on his scroll. Blake walked up to Walker and adjusted his tie before walking out with him with Winter in tow.

"Ms. Belladonna seems to be quite close to him." Port said.

"Yes, I think the only time I've ever seen him away from her is when he's training by himself or is talking to someone, other than that she's constantly near him." Oobleck said as he followed everybody else out while shielding his eyes from the camera flashes from the crowd, who were kept behind a iron barrier.

"She and the girls are closest to Walker, more than any of his Gears. They know what he likes and what he doesn't, but her and Ms. Rose are the closest to him." Glynda said.

"I'm sure you've all seen what he had gone through. He values people as if they'd disappear from his life any moment. Same with Dead-Echo, he views them like family. Even calling Fred and Nash big brother once or twice while they've called him little brother. He's a good child, just had to go through more trouble then we ever had." Ozpin said as he flashed the small smile to the crowd. They walked for a quick minute while trying their hardest not to wince at the occasional camera flash before they finally arriving near the entrance to see the lead councilman giving them a curt wave. Ozpin was the first one up and shook hands with him then everybody else shortly did the same, finally Walker showed with Blake in tow.

"Lieutenant, it's good to see you." He said as he shook Walker's hand.

"Pleasure to be here, councilman Douglass." Walker replied as he shook Douglass' hand.

"Who is this?" He asked.

"Blake Belladonna, one of my top Gears. Her and the others fought alongside me during the final raid of that Theron." Walker answered.

"Oh, my friend has his deepest gratitude for saving his kingdom and I'm sorry for the loss of one of your own." Douglass said.

"Yes, I am too. But their deaths weren't in vain... as much as I'd like to discuss our personal endeavors, I would like to get this meeting over with." Walker said.

"As would I." Douglass said as he lead everyone to the room, where the other two councilmen sat, while many representatives sat nearby waiting silently. Douglass made his way to his seat on the high chair and sat down in it before looking at the other two and nodding. "This meeting is now in session." He said. Walker pulled a seat out for the others and pushed them in while he sat in his own next to Blake and clasped his hands together while waiting for the discussion to start.

"Mr. Ronin, Due to your forces' assistance in Atlas they are slowly reclaiming the kingdom back and are currently rebuilding as we speak. The other kingdom's councils were highly impressed by your skill and wish to know if you are willing to spread that training to other kingdoms." Douglass said.

"A couple of months ago I had discussed with the General of Atlas about spreading my training and I have recently discussed it with Headmaster Ozpin and Headmistress Goodwitch. I am spreading my training but I am staying here in Vale. My reason being, is that I would rather defend this kingdom where I've lived for the past two years rather than travel all the time and never lead my forces." Walker answered professionally, making the others look at him.

"But what of the recruits? How are they supposed to receive training?" The left councilman asked.

"They travel. You can't go anywhere in life if you don't take the first initiative. If they are willing enough to travel then they are wiling enough to receive the training and will be shipped back to their kingdom once they have completed the course." He answered.

"What type of training do you offer? I would rather not spend my time and money on something I can send somebody to Atlas for or have them sign up for combat school." The right councilman said.

"Weapons training, guerrilla warfare, psychological warfare, information gathering, explosives, etc. The training that the recruits will be receiving isn't your basic training level kind, it's advanced and requires only the best. I'd rather not have someone who says they can fight and brag about it then get either themselves killed or the people around them killed. We don't need that as a kingdom and I don't need that on my conscious." He replied.

"I think that is enough about the training for the moment but I would like to know how you've managed to get Roman Torchwick underneath your thumb." Douglass said.

"Through intimidation and a deal." Walker said, giving a sharp whistle and waited for a second before the doors opened and Roman and Neo stepped through. The former with a smirk on his face while the latter was nervous as numerous people stared at them with dead expressions. Neo knew the consequences should they screw up while Roman kept his facade up and casually strolled up to Walker.

"Hey kid, why the sour faces of everybody?" He asked cheekily.

"Sit down Roman, or I'll cut this deal faster than you can't stop me from doing so." Walker said in a hollow tone. Roman was about to retort but felt a jab on his side and looked to see Neo quickly type a message and show it to him while having a serious expression.

 _"Roman, be serious. This meeting is what happens to us for the upcoming years. We already have thirty years taken off our prison sentence in Atlas for supplying those weapons and helping reclaim the kingdom, should this deal go smoothly then we'll have another fifteen off. Roman... I don't want to die in prison, okay? This could be our one chance to actually do something without getting in trouble, we have nowhere else to go and seeing as we've pissed off a lot of people in the past, this could be our best bet in getting out with a somewhat decent life."_ She said. He was about to scoff but saw the look in her eyes, it wasn't fear or sadness, it was exhaustion. She was tired of running and just getting by through each heist, while it gave them loads of income it wasn't steady and usually it went away quick with how many people they associated with. He turned his head and looked to see Walker staring at him.

"Don't be a fool Roman. I can see it in your eyes, you're tired of running after doing it for ten years, this could be the one time you don't have to anymore. A wise person would take their punishment and learn from it. Neo is already done running and you're running on fumes, how long do you think you'll have before you run empty?" He asked.

"I have enough." Roman said.

"Not really. Do you have anything else to say Roman?" Walker asked.

"Not at the moment." He said.

"Then sit down." Walker ordered and watched as Roman sighed quietly and pulled up a nearby seat while Neo did the same, silently praying that this went in their favor. All the representatives and the councilmen stared at the younger man impressed and wrote a few things down before turning their attention back.

"Most impressive. About this deal with Atlas about the two." Douglass said.

"Walker cut them a deal, should they provide weapons and supplies for the people then they would have time off their prison sentence. Granted they're not off Scott free and will be required to serve at least a minimum of ten years in a maximum security for the crimes they've committed in the past but they are allowed to get out sooner if they are on good behavior." Ozpin said.

"And why did you think this deal was a good idea Mr. Ronin?" The right councilmen asked.

"I saw something in them. Sure they are criminals and are dangerous to civilians but they're weapon smugglers. These two have managed to supply a platoon of marines with weapons that saved a district, granted half of the men died but in the end the district was saved. I'm not saying these two are saints, god no, but they have at least saved a couple of thousand people from falling underneath the locust hands. That deserves some praise, even if it's by a few people." Walker said.

"That still doesn't excuse the atrocities they've committed in the past." The councilman retorted.

"The past is the past. You think these kingdoms got this far without committing things they're not proud of? No. Point is councilman, we all screw up; nobody is perfect. I screwed up plenty of times in the past." Walker said.

"How could someone like you screw up? You seem like the perfect soldier." Douglass said.

"If only you knew half the story." Walker chuckled lowly, making the residents from Beacon throw him a nervous glance, fearing he would reveal some information. "But that's for me to keep. Anyways, I take it that you wanted to discuss something besides Roman and Neopolitan? Sure they are some interesting individuals but there are more important matters at hand." He added.

"Ahem... yes there is. We seem to have found a large tunnel near Vacuo. Our surveillance has captured pictures a large amounts of Locust coming out of it and deduced it is where they are coming from. If our sources are correct then it should be their home-" The left councilman started.

"It's not." Walker interrupted, making everybody look at him.

"Why not?" Douglass asked.

"You have a projector?" Walker asked.

"Uh yes. We do... what is this about lieutenant?" Douglass asked. Walker waited in silence as the projector was being set up and plugged the cord into his scroll, watching as the content on his scroll popped up on the projector and he froze the screen to go through some files. He unfroze the screen on the projector and gestured for somebody to turn off the lights, showing everybody the video on his scroll. It was a very detailed video captured when he first started to investigate the missing persons case, it made everybody in the room except Ozpin and Glynda pale. The tunnel was massive and would honeycomb to even more massive tunnels where locust Drones and Miners could be seen working, while a Brumak tail could be seen disappearing around the corner. Waterfalls could be seen and the occasional locust gunboat sped through the water to pick up supplies before disappearing.

"N-no." One of the representatives stuttered. All the others voiced what she said as they stared at the video.

"What you discovered may be a stronghold but it's certainly not their home. They're underground dwellers, wherever you think they aren't, they are. It doesn't matter how long you defend one place because they'll always pop up another." Walker said.

"This is preposterous!" Another representative said.

"You think I'd lie about this? The locust aren't the type to give up so easily, you all really thought you had them beat in Atlas? No, they'll learn and eventually they'll strike another kingdom. Each locust Drone is worth several marines, they have tough skin that can shrug off a regular dust round, they're strong enough to rip a man in half, and they're crafty enough to use our own weapons against us. Why do you think they have Lancers? Those aren't their weapons. They're human." Walker explained, making everyone go quiet. Douglass rubbed his forehead forcefully, trying to alleviate the upcoming headache that was forming at the top of his skull.

"So... you mean to tell me... these things are everywhere?" He asked.

"Afraid so sir." Walker nodded.

"How soon can you get those Gears trained?" He asked.

"Without enough space? Damn near four months, my training isn't standard as I've said before. It's advanced and pushes the individual to their absolute limit, if they can't push past that then they don't get to become Gears." Walker said.

"How many White Fang and Atlas soldiers are already there?" Douglass asked, making Blake's eyes widen and look at Walker as he cast her a quick glance then back at Douglass.

"Fifty White Fang and twenty marines. Our dorm house isn't built to be barracks, it's to be an extra place for students and placing those men and women there is only going to create stress. I need more space, time, and resources." Walker said.

"We can possibly stretch your training time for another month, the space won't be an issue, and the resources we'll need to pull some strings. But I want those men and women into Gears, Mr. Ronin. We need that training for them and we need them on the front lines as much as it pains me to say this." Douglass said.

"We'll do more than just front lines sir." Walker nodded.

"That's good to hear, I hate to cut this discussion short but we have other matters to address. Remember Lieutenant... we will be watching." Douglass said as everyone gave a nod. The rest of the meeting was spent with what to do about the surge in Grimm and other political issues, something Walker never really paid attention to, while others were asking Winter about the status of Atlas. He walked out of the room and sat on the bench until he felt somebody nudge his shoulder and looked to his left to see Blake looking at him with that certain look that wanted him to explain.

"If you're wondering about the White Fang then they're all defects of the cause. Went through the file of each one carefully and hand picked them, I already know you were in the group before leaving and coming to Beacon, and I know that it's a soft spot with you." He said evenly. Her mouth clamped shut before she even said anything to begin with.

"When were you going to tell me?" She asked.

"I don't know honestly. I just decided that I would train some people so we weren't the ones who always had to get our hands dirty, I'd rather have a few hundred Gears that could do some damage to the locust in contrast to thirty of us risking our lives and being forgotten like the next person." He shrugged.

"Why would you want to train people that you don't even know?" She asked.

"Hell if I know Blake. I sometimes just do shit and it works out, I'm an enigma sometimes. My mind's so fucked up that it's hard for me to solve the problem, most of the time I just leave it be and wait for the shit to hit the fan to react. I'm usually good at that." He said.

"I will never understand you." She sighed.

"I don't understand myself sometimes. So don't strain yourself too much or you'll ruin that complexion of yours." He said.

"Never change... well do change but in a good way." She said.

"Oh? You don't want me as a bad change? Maybe I'd change into the bad boy main characters like the ones you read in those stories, honestly though, you really enjoy those things. I think you need a convention about that." He said as her face lit up a bit.

"Fuck off Walker. It doesn't stop you from checking them out. Do you enjoy those?" She asked suddenly, making him recoil.

"W-w-well no." He stuttered and suddenly stopped while Blake just backed up and stared at him with wide eyes. She covered her mouth and a small pink tint made itself known on her face, this was possibly the most adorable thing she's ever heard coming from a person like him.

"Walker... you have made my day." She smiled.

"Shut up. You made me break my damn record." He muttered.

"And that is?" She asked.

"How long I could go without stuttering and you managed to break it after thirteen years." He said.

"You'll get over it." She waved.

"Just like how you got over the fact that your ninja's in love character dies at the end of his story?" He asked.

"He does?!" She asked, her face morphing into panic.

"I dunno. I think he does at least." He shrugged.

"Cut it out then! I haven't finished the third book!" She cried out.

"You going to make fun of my stuttering?" He asked.

"I never made fun of it!" She said.

"I dunno Blake, it seemed like it. I guess I'll just have to spoil it for you." He said dramatically.

"Don't you dare Walker, if you spoil the end of the book for me then so help me I'll-" She pointed.

"Reenact a scene out of page 137?" He asked, her mouth clamped shut and she stared at him with a beet red face that was the shade of Ruby's cloak. He could have sworn steam came out of her ears, both sets, before she almost fainted but was caught at the last second. They were lucky they weren't in the room with the others and just sat on a bench in the hallway while waiting for the others to finish up with the meeting. She set her head against his shoulder and just stared blankly after she had calmed down a bit, while he did the same.

"Where do you see yourself in ten years?" She asked out of the blue.

"You want my real answer?" He asked.

"No, I want the false one... of course I want the real answer." She deadpanned.

"Dead, in the psych ward, or at home with Ajay and Granddad." He answered truthfully.

"I really wished you wouldn't say that." She sighed.

"Side effect." He just said.

"Of what?" She asked.

"A personal matter of mine." He said.

"What kind of matter?" She asked.

"A personal one Blake. One only I'm comfortable with knowing. Plus there's only been one person who's helped me through it and he can't anymore since he's dead." He said.

"Is it Nash?" She asked,

"How'd you know?" He asked.

"We sometimes hear you at night when you have nightmares. You cry out for your previous team's names and then fall back asleep after muttering things." She said.

"I thought that I would have gotten out of that by now." He sighed.

"No... we noticed that when you wouldn't stop talking about the nightmares and someplace called the Festering chamber." She sighed as the two were basked in silence for a while, eventually falling asleep while waiting for the others. Ozpin was the first one out and chuckled at the sight of the two until Glynda came out from behind and saw them, sighing silently and shoving him out of the way to wake them.

"Children... you need to wake up." She said. Blake woke up and rubbed her eyes before giving a sheepish expression and shaking Walker. They noticed he wasn't moving and she shook him harder and harder until she shook so hard his hand suddenly clasped around her's tightly, making her give a small cry of pain. His porthole lights suddenly flickered on but instead of blue they were yellow, which made Ozpin and the others back away cautiously while Blake was still in his grasp.

"Walker... stop... you're hurting me." She winced as she tried to pry his hand from her wrist, wincing more when it tightened.

 **"Why did you wake me?"** He said in a tone that didn't sound like him at all. It sounded robotic, cold, malevolent even; what made it worse was the fact that Ozpin hadn't tried to intervene, nor did Glynda or the rest. For some reason, his strength seemed to triple and his grip became unbearable to the point where she wanted to scream but couldn't.

"Walker... Walker... Walker, please." Blake begged but it fell on deaf ears as he continued his assault on her wrist before Ozpin shouted something that only he knew the purpose behind.

"Eli!" He shouted. All of a sudden Blake's wrist was free and Goodwitch brought her behind her while staring at Walker as he shook his head furiously and held his helmet as he sat on the bench.

"What was that?!" Goodwitch demanded. Her demand fell on deaf ears and she turned to see Walker scraping his helmet furiously while whispering something so fast it sounded like multiple voices.

"Walker? Are you yourself?" Ozpin asked.

"If that's your way of asking if I'm alright then no... I just want to go home now." He whispered. Ozpin nodded and silently ordered Port and Oobleck to assist him back to the transport while he sighed and turned to the girls.

"Ozpin... why did you call him that?" Glynda asked.

"That name holds great value to him. It's something his mother and father say to him as a sort of last resort to calm him down should he reach a certain point of breaking. no one is to utter it unless absolutely necessary." He sighed.

"So that's some sort of safety word?" Blake asked.

"Not necessarily Ms. Belladonna. It just keeps him from going over the edge, like I said before, it's a name that holds great value to him. While it calms him down, it also triggers something inside him that must remain dormant at all cost. It's a double edged sword that can have a major benefit or a cost depending on the situation." Ozpin said.

"... Will he be okay?" She asked.

"Most likely, he's done it before when he and I play chess. It took him a few hours to finally calm down but he eventually was back to normal." He reassured.

"What is it?" Glynda asked.

"His anger. Walker and his family, at least from what he's told me, has always had severe anger problems on his father's side. His family is from a long line of military servers that have been known to hold great amounts of strength when provoked, I'm assuming this is how his father has so many kills underneath his belt." He said.

"Ozpin, from what we've seen, his father is usually a calm man like his son." She said.

"That's just when they're in control. If they're pushed far enough, they'll break, and when they do... nobody is safe from them. Teammates, friends, enemies, even innocents are all targets in his berserk state. His porthole lights are the first indicator, then his stance, next comes his fighting style and strength, and finally comes his rage and insanity." He said.

"So those times he's snapped at us isn't because he's disappointed, it's because of his anger?" Blake asked.

"That's just the tip of the iceberg I'm afraid. There's still much we don't know about him, and the only one who knew the most about him besides his family was Dead-Echo. Kelly seemed to keep tabs on his psych, Amelia showed him calming techniques, Fred usually invited him to play a game or two, and Nash helped him control and harness it for battle. They took all the anger and insanity away while staying professional enough to get the job done, they were his family." He said.

"What do we do about it then?" Glynda asked.

"For now, nothing." He replied.

"What do you mean nothing, Ozpin? He clearly needs help." She demanded.

"He needs time Glynda. Throughout this entire time he's been here, we've done nothing but push and push and push him to the breaking point about his problems. While I agree he needs help, he also needs time to deal with it all. Just think, when we found out that a seventeen year old boy had gone through an extinction level event and managed to survive it all, do you think we've even given him enough time to at least settle down?" He asked them. Both had gone quiet and mulled over what he said. None of them had given him enough time to actually relax and really mull over the fact that he was alive, they've just started throwing questions and demanding that he get help.

"We've never really done so." Blake said and watched as they began to walk back to the dropship.

"I may have made mistakes and it may seem like I'm accepting anyone into Beacon but the reason why I let him in is because I saw something deep down inside his being. He's a good soldier, he may have his issues that need help but he's someone that you can rely on when the time comes around. Loyalty and integrity are his best attributes, not all his methods are appropriate but he gets the job done when needed." He replied. The sky darkened and they all looked up to see the clouds forming over their heads and tiny drops of rain landing around. The air began to moisten and the smell was pleasant to the noses of the individuals that inhaled it.

"When we all get back, give him some time alone or do something that relaxes him. Even do whatever you all were going to do Saturday, which I would advise staying out of the halls mind you." Ozpin said, making Blake's eyes widen and she gave a sheepish laugh.

"We'll do that. I'm going to go check on Walker." She said quickly and entered the dropship before Glynda could say anything. Ozpin gave a small chuckle and looked at Glynda and Winter as they stood next to him.

"Let them have this weekend Glynda, they may be considered adults as of now but for once just let them be kids enough to take their mind off the pain. They deserve it." He said, shutting both women up before they could say anything. They nodded and entered the ship to see Blake sitting in one of the seats with a red face while Walker slept soundly with his head on her lap.

"Is this a common thing between you two?" Winter asked.

"Yes..." Blake squeaked out.

"I will never understand you kids today." Roman murmured and fell asleep as the ride took off back to Beacon.

* * *

The moment he had gotten in his room, he was out like a light after getting in a pair of shorts. He snapped a little. He knew Blake had never meant to bring that up because she didn't know what it was, she knew the time with Skorge was a minefield with him and avoided it at all costs but she was attentive. Always listening for others. While that was a good thing, it wasn't always a good thing in some cases, specifically his outbursts at night. That's why he soundproofed his walls and his room was at the edge of the hallway in a small secluded area. While it was soundproof to the fullest, it was also the most peaceful when time came, being next to the window where he oversaw the forest's beauty. And since it was raining it never looked more beautiful.

A few hours had passed by since he fell asleep and he was still doing so, until he woke up suddenly due to something being off. He groggily stood up and stumbled to the door and opened it to see an empty hallway. There was no sound at all and it slightly unnerved him, making him go in his room and pull out his snub pistol from the drawer of the dresser, quietly pulling the chamber to see a round in it and walked out of the room. It wasn't like it to be this quiet here, usually Nora would be saying something loud and doing something that would get her in trouble but didn't hear a sound. On the way towards the kitchen area he stopped in the middle of the hall to see Sky's and Nadir's portraits hanging on the wall. A sigh escaped him and he patted each picture then stalked towards the kitchen area and rounded the corner to see everyone sleeping on the ground. All of his current Gears anyways, the recruits are possibly in their designated rooms but everyone else was sleeping in the living room area as if it were a big slumber party.

"What the hell is going on?" He asked.

"We decided to rest up before the big day tomorrow." Yang said from behind, making him jump slightly at her sudden appearance.

"Where the hell did you come from?" He asked.

"I was in the bathroom." She answered, pulling up a seat near the counter and sitting in it, eating some ice-cream.

"It's like four in the afternoon." He pointed towards the ice-cream.

"It's ten at night Walker." She corrected with a spoon in her mouth. "This is some really good ice-cream. I mean, like holy shit it's good." She added with a muffle in her voice.

"That's my fucking ice-cream!" He exclaimed as he saw the familiar tub. Her eyes widened and she looked at the tub to see it his favorite flavor before shrugging and eating some more of it, it was snatched from her grasp and he peered inside to see a small portion of it left.

"I didn't know." She said.

"How the hell did you not know? I put my name on the side of it." He said.

"I thought Weiss did that. She usually puts her name on stuff to keep me from taking it." She replied.

"And yet you still take it. How the hell did you even not notice that my writing was different from her writing?" He asked.

"I just see the W and think "Oh well, it's just Ice-Queen's, I might as well take it" and then I just do it." She said.

"That's probably why your ass is so big! You literally eat all my shit!" He gestured.

"Heeey... is that a compliment or an insult. Because I'm going to take it as a compliment, which implies you stare at my ass. So do you stare at my ass?" She asked.

"I've caught the occasional glimpse of it, yeah. I ain't ashamed." He shrugged.

"Well, well aren't you the naughty boy. If I would have known better then I'd give you more of a sneak peak~" She flirted.

"Then I would have fucked you silly while slapping your ass and make you call my name." He flirted nonchalantly, making her stop in her tracks and go beet red.

"Wow... that uh... that was explicit..." She coughed.

"I learned a lot from Fred and Kelly. They'd always do this shit when I was around." He shook his head.

"Were they in a relationship?" She asked.

"Towards the end of the war they were. It started with the hugs, then it eventually went to them sleeping in the same room, then them spending more time together, and that blossomed into kisses. The final step was them going for it and getting together, that finally turned to marriage." He listed as he set the pistol on the counter and sat next to her.

"They got married?" She asked while propping herself on her elbow.

"Yep, was there when it happened. I'm surprised they don't have kids yet to be honest. Kelly was one of those girls that would jump to be a mother as soon as she could once she knew the time was right." He said.

"Hmm... you mind if I ask you a question?" She asked.

"You just asked one." He said and getting a punch in the shoulder as a result.

"Be serious." She said.

"Fine." He muttered.

"What don't you pursue a relationship with anyone?" She asked.

"... It's not that I don't... it's because I can't afford to until I'm sure the war is over. I would rather find a woman and be with her knowing I'm going to be there for the rest of her life than hoping nothing bad happens to her and deal with the possibility that she could die and leave me alone." He said after a minute of silence.

"So you're scared to be alone?" She asked.

"I'm not so much scared but I'm worried that might happen. Plus who would want to go for me?" He asked.

"You have no idea." She muttered from the corner of her mouth while looking at the sleeping mass in the living room. The two sat in silence for a while before he sighed and picked up the pistol, shuffling back to his room and closing the door. He placed it back in the drawer and walked over to his bed before getting underneath the covers and falling back asleep as if nothing happened, this time without the nightmares. It was supposed to be a big day tomorrow, so why was he forgetting something?

* * *

Skorge was not happy, at all. In fact, he was strangely pissed for a usually calm Kantus priest. His troops from the snow kingdom had just returned empty handed and claimed that the campaign against it was lost, they stated that a specialized group had decimated their forces in a year and eliminated the Theron that was leading the attack. He ignored the whimpers in the corner of the room when he suddenly slashed a decoration in half with his staff, shrieking at them and making them silence in half a second. It took him a few minutes to calm down before he sat on his throne made of bones and skin from the various victims, brushing his finger in a circular motion as it passed over a skinned face and set his thumb in its empty sockets. His hand slowly wrapped around a chain before he suddenly pulled the link and made one of the prisoner's gag as she was pulled in front of him and whimpered when he brushed a finger behind her hair and stared at her scarred body, not caring if she was just rags at this point.

 **"You humans are so weak. So fragile, it's almost cute."** He hissed/laughed as he felt her shudder underneath his touch. She gagged when he clamped his hand around her throat and stared at her. **"Almost too weak compared to the ones I've faced in the past. They were a real challenge, unlike you all."** He hissed at her.

"P-please. L-let me go." She gagged.

 **"No, unlike the others over there, your flesh is something to be cherished. Your screams are almost pleasurable and the way you squirm makes me delighted. I enjoy hurting you, and the pain won't stop until I've had my fill."** He replied, slicing a part of her face with his claw and shaking in delight when she screamed. His forked tongue slowly lapped up the blood and then some as she shuddered at the disgusting feeling. A cry escaped her lips as he threw her on the ground and picked up the chain, making somebody else scream and resist, it only encouraged him to pull harder and a bear faunus was thrown in front of him.

"Let me go you fucking freak!" He spat in Skorge's face, the latter just letting the saliva dribble down his face before he wiped it off and grabbed the man's head. Giving it a savage twist and shuddering as the necked snapped loudly and the head twisted at an unnatural angle, he kicked the body out of his throne room and turned his attention back to the others, who made themselves as small as possible.

 **"Fun time... then I lead the horde."** He chuckled maliciously as he approached them. The next hour was filled with the screams of pain and terror as the prisoners went through the 'sessions'.

* * *

 **AN: Holy shit everyone. I mean what the actual shit...**

 **It's been an entire year since I became a fanfiction author and first started this story. I just wanted to say thank you all so much for sticking with me this long and I hope that you'll stick by until the end, it means a lot to me that you lot are doing just that. It actually brings a small tear to my eye because of that... but I don't cry. I suck that shit back up like a fucking man. Just kidding. Aside from the jokes, I really do appreciate you all for reading my content, it's truly special to me. And since it's my 1 year anniversary as an author, I'm giving myself a challenge to update all my stories in the next few weeks and then some, that means there will be at least one chapter every three weeks to a month or even two chapters if my time schedule isn't so jam packed. Now I do believe we have reviews to discuss.**

 **DigitalPh33rFan: Another review I enjoyed reading, thanks for it though.**

 **JkDelta38: Thanks man, I appreciate it.**

 **Not a lot of reviews but it's all good, I don't need a lot to see that you all are at least somewhat satisfied with my content. So again, thank you for sticking with my content and I hope you all enjoy the future ones. Take it easy, and have a good one everyone.**


	17. Chapter 17: Missions and downtime

It was Saturday and the sun was barely peaking over the horizon, illuminating the dorm house/ barracks with a dull light. Hushed whispers could be heard in the halls as a group slowly crept towards a room at the end, shushing each other when one of them spoke too loud or made a noise. As the Gears crept closer and closer to Walker's room and slowly opened it with a small creak, they could see his form underneath the blankets lying still and snickered to one another as they finally got up to his form and suddenly yanked the blankets away before splashing water on the bed. All of them blanked when they just saw a couple of pillows and a replica helmet placed but turned to see him step out of the bathroom with nothing but a towel on, still dripping.

"What the fuck are y'all doing here?" He asked.

"When did... how did... why are you in just a towel?!" Coco asked, gesturing towards his figure.

"I was in the shower... why the hell are you all here?" He asked.

"We're waiting for you to hurry up so we're not late." Jaune said.

"About?" He asked.

"We're meeting the Jaune's family today." Pyrrha said.

"Oh that? I thought you all were fucking around about that. Fine, I just need to get dressed." He said and walked over to the closet. He picked out his clothes and noticed none of them left yet. "That implies you all leave, I'm not going stark fucking nude and changing in front of you all." He added. Most of them left the room after he said that but all that remained was Yang and Blake with a mischievous smirks.

"You two seem to be a little touched in the head this morning. I said leave." He deadpanned.

"Oh I know, I'm just going to see what you'll do." Yang replied.

"I got the perfect thing." He said, going to the desk and picking up his scroll then looking at her and back at the scroll as he typed something; it rang for a second before he heard Summer's voice come up.

"Hello?" She asked.

"Hey Summer, got a question for you." He stated.

"Okay?" She asked.

"How do you get a girl to leave your room when you want to change and get somewhere real quick?" He asked.

"I'd say... either describe them to me so I can get on her, because I'm pretty sure I know who it is or embarrass them somehow. It's what I usually do to Tai when he wants to be an ass sometimes." She said.

"Got it, before I go. Why did you and him decide to tag along with us to meet the Arcs?" He asked.

"We want to see how they're doing since we've met a few of them over our travels. Not to mention we haven't had time off from a mission in Oum knows how long and we deserve it." She said.

"When was the last time you've had time off?" He asked.

"Before you all went to Atlas. I- Dammit Tai! I said no cooking! I have to go Walker, Tai's trying to cook... You had better not burn down this stove or so help me-" Her end of the line was cut when she hung up and that left him with the girls.

"Fine... since you've asked for this. I've seen both your tits, needless to say I can't tell who has a bigger set. Blake's or your's Yang. I mean I haven't seen you completely naked but Blake on the other hand, I've seen everything-" He stopped when they slammed the door in his face and left him alone; blinking a few times in surprise he gave a laugh when he heard muffled screaming outside the door. The next few minutes was spent getting ready and freshening himself up, he wore a simple black t-shirt and his black hooded leather jacket Blake bought him, along a pair of dark blue jeans and his personal boots. He strapped his knife to the back of his belt and opened the door then closed it on his way out. As he walked the hallway and came to the edge of it he suddenly stopped when Neptune's form flew through the air and slammed into the fridge, making him groan hoarsely while he curled in a ball and held his stomach. Walker peered around the corner to see Yang sitting there with red eyes as she breathed harshly and Ruby patted her shoulder.

"Damn, what the hell happened to you?" He asked Neptune.

"Said... something... I... thought... was funny... to Yang..." He gasped out.

"And that is?" Walker asked.

"He said my tits would fill up a gallon of milk!" She shouted.

"Wow, don't know whether to laugh or scold you." Walker said.

"Don't do either... just let me lie here for a minute." Neptune said.

"Nope. I'm pretty sure everyone is already leaving for the dropship so..." Walker drawled and hauled Neptune to his feet. "Get your ass to it, blue balls." He said, which made Yang's eyes turn lilac again but her hair still glowed slightly. Neptune sighed at the nickname and shuffled to the transport while he shortly followed out with the girls in tow. The sky had begun to lighten up some more as they walked for a minute in silence, not wanting to ruin the morning noises from both students heading into the city and the birds chirping their morning songs. After almost a seven minute walk they finally arrived at the transport and saw that everyone else was waiting, wondering why they hadn't taken off yet until they saw Walker head to the co-pilot's seat.

"Since when do you know how to fly a bullhead?" Velvet asked.

"A couple of weeks before I went into the Dark Zone. Took me damn near three months to complete the course, it's not as easy as it looks." He answered as he took the controls. Everyone went silent when he mentioned that place, they all vowed to never bring it up again after what they learned had gone on in there. Senseless murders, cannibalism, and other atrocities that should never be spoken of, most even tried to forget about it as soon as they could. It's a miracle Walker seemed somewhat unfazed by the violence, though disgusted with some of the people in there, they had learned he had no qualms about killing another man should he need to. Their thoughts were cut off as soon as the dropship took off and began to head towards a direction.

It wasn't clear how much time had passed before the reached the city but it must have taken an hour and a half or two with how everyone was sleeping in their seats or doing something to alleviate their boredom. The silence lasted for ten more minutes before the ride docked and the back opened up after Yatsuhashi hit it twice, the glare of the sun entered the back a bit but otherwise kept the interior at a comfortable lighting. Summer and Tai entered and found a few empty seats before sitting in them, they noticed how clean this transport was and even saw some air fresheners dangling from the ceiling, presumably to keep the interior from smelling.

"Jaune, where the hell are we going?" Walker asked.

"There's an estate that's an hour away from the agricultural district. Shouldn't be too far as long as we stay on course." He replied.

"Wait... you live on an estate?" Weiss asked incredulously.

"Yeah... it's kind of historical in a sense. It's been around since before the great war started." He laughed sheepishly.

"I mean, that is kind of understandable since the Arcs have a long history of huntsmen and huntresses." Summer chimed in.

"Yep. Funny how I always wanted to be a hero against the war with the Grimm." He said.

"That's the thing, Jaune. There are no heroes in war, only men and women who get the job done and go home. You can call yourself a hero once you know the fighting is over." Walker craned his head to the left a bit. Normally, Jaune would brush this off and deny it, he couldn't help but agree with what Walker had said. The moment the locust popped up and started the war, his hero mentality had dropped when Walker shattered it from him. It wasn't gone but he realized the truth during his third battle, there are no heroes in war.

"Where'd you learn that?" Tai asked.

"Learned it from my old man. I remember when I first enlisted and said I'd be a hero, he completely crushed my dreams in front of me." Walker answered.

"Why would he do that?" Nora asked.

"He wanted me to go in with an actual glimpse of what we were fighting. It wasn't simple monsters that could be slain with ease nor were we going to save everyone like fairy tale heroes. We were soldiers that fought for survival of our species." Walker explained.

"Your father... what was he like if you don't mind me asking?" Winter asked, when the hell did she get on?

"Dad was a good man. Cared about his family and friends while staying professional enough to get the job done. He pretty much taught me everything I know about some aspects of warfare. My mom and him saw my drive to go into the military and wanted me to have as much of an edge as possible, they taught me science, mathematics, psychology, and even a little bit of a foreign language." He said.

"You've never spoken another language though since you've been here." Tai said.

"Keep in mind, I left to join when I was thirteen. Five years before I was even eligible to sign up, I've had maybe a few months of foreign language and haven't spoken it in like five years." Walker said.

"Do you still know something?" Ren asked.

"What's one of our quotes Gears?" Walker asked.

"luchar contra la muerte." They all said in unison, drawing a confused look from the three adults.

"And that means?" Tai asked.

"Fight to the death. On Sera, most of us Gears fought hard and to the death, while we believed in tactical retreat and calling something a loss, we were never ones to give it up without a fight." Walker answered.

"Huh... now if you don't mind us asking a few more questions about your father." Summer said.

"If I don't answer or say anything then it's personal but otherwise shoot." He said.

"How skilled was he?" She asked.

"You all find me to be the best fighter? My dad would completely wipe the floor with my ass. Nash too." He answered.

"There's no way. You're like the strongest person out here." Nora proclaimed.

"Thanks but yeah. My dad was a veteran Gear and so was Nash. I've only been fighting the locust for four years while they've done it for seventeen. Not to mention they've fought in the pendulum wars also." He said. All the occupant's eyes widened at that, nonstop fighting for so long would make them want to give up.

"Your people must have been strong." Winter said.

"We were survivors. We've fought shit ten times our size and still came out on top." He said.

"Alright, what's the biggest and baddest thing you've killed?" Yang asked with her arms crossed.

"The biggest I've killed is a Brumak, and a Leviathan. The baddest I've killed is a Berserker." He answered.

"A Leviathan?" Fox asked.

"Huge, ass carnivorous squid big enough to swallow a car whole and durable as hell." Walker answered, shifting in his seat to get more comfortable then relaxed again. A part of him enjoyed talking about Sera, whether it be the world itself or the inhabitants that lived there, he enjoyed it. So long as they didn't ask any personal questions about his past and any government information then he'd be fine. Ash just listened quietly about Walker's home world, he already knew all this information and vowed to never tell a soul due to his loyalty to him. Walker had given him a job as a pilot for the Gears and paid him enough to where he could provide for his family and do something that he always wanted to be. A combat pilot. Both men had come to a stable ground where Walker was given a good pilot and Ash got a stable paycheck and to do the job he loved.

The rest of the ride was basked in silence and they all sat comfortably in their seats. Before they all knew it, an hour had passed by and they were approaching a large Estate that had freshly cut lawns, two story building, and a nearby pool for some relaxation. Ash set a course down for a nearby pad and roughly landed the vehicle on it, giving an all clear for them to exit. Walker unbuckled his seat belt and walked to the bay door, smacking the button twice and watching as it lowered the door. They walked out of the vehicle and were amazed at the sight of the residence, even Weiss was slightly impressed at the sheer design of the property.

"Didn't take you for one of those boys Jaune." Yang commented.

"Heh, yeah... it sort of becomes a norm when you have all this, and even then I still wanted to leave." He laughed sheepishly.

"Why would you want to leave here?" Pyrrha asked.

"I uh... wanted to go to Beacon more than anything. Took Crocea Mors with me without telling anybody and ran from home. I wasn't very bright then." He said in the same sheepish tone.

"You're still not very bright now." Walker jabbed.

"And you ate Ruby's cookie stash." Jaune retorted, making her look at him.

"You what?!" She shouted.

"Fuck... you weren't supposed to hear that." Walker muttered.

"First you call Crescent Rose a simple weapon, now you eat all my cookies?!" She screamed.

"Okay, one... you literally eat all my food when you're too lazy to cook your own. And two, I did apologize after you dismantled my sawed-off and hid the parts around the dorm house." He said. Tai and Summer snorted in amusement at the two's banter as they all walked to the complex, both of them had been keeping in touch with her and found out her and Walker had a very close relationship. It was like that for all the Gears, they all view him with upmost respect while he does the same, some of them even going as far as to give their lives as he would on numerous occasions. It's what made some of Tai's students want to be Gears and Huntsman rather than anything else and what made some of Summer's friends take an interest in the program.

"You know that's not true. I cook by myself and I'm a very good one at that." She proclaimed.

"Whatever you say. The moment you can cook something other than cookies with absolute perfection is the moment I'll let you wear my helmet." He said, tapping the side.

"It's a deal!" She said, sticking her hand out. He gripped it and shook it firmly before hitting the side of his helmet and letting the compressed air out, reaching in his pocket and eating a mint. The others watched as he let the helmet drop and the sound of gears shifting could be heard before the helmet clamped around his head snugly.

"Hey boss." Nebula said.

"Yep." He replied.

"How exactly does that helmet work?" She asked.

"As far as?" He asked back.

"Like, the inner workings." She answered.

"Too complicated and long to go into. Basically it has a built in radio with its own frequency, recording system, air filters, objective tracker, an updated mapping system, a small tank that administers a gas, and even your guys' status." He answered.

"All in that thing." Cardin asked.

"Yep. Granddad and dad made it for me when I was in AIT. It's kept me safe for all these years." He patted it.

"Why don't we get one?" May asked.

"You all really want to wear a helmet 24/7?" He asked.

"I wouldn't mind. Plus it would make us look cool." Nora chimed in.

"Then I'll see about having Atlas supply some. A little less like mine in terms of technology but I'll try to have them get you all something." He answered.

"Why not the technology? Can't we just reverse engineer the helmet?" Velvet asked.

"I'd rather have them pry this thing from my mutilated corpse before I let another person have this helmet and treat it like a simple tool." He said in a suddenly serious tone, shocking the others a bit. It seemed that the thing held as much value to him as his customs, maybe even more.

"But we are getting helmets right?" She asked.

"I'll look into it, just like how our base is going to be moved into another year or two." He said.

"Where?" Blake asked.

"An offshore plant in the middle of the ocean. Close enough to gather supplies from the kingdom and be deployed around the world but far enough to where we won't be attacked without noticing it. Locust can't dig underneath it since it's surrounded by water. Only problem is that we need to expand it, currently only a command platform is up and running, the rest we need to pay to have built." He answered.

"What'll happen to our stuff here?" Weiss asked.

"Ozpin said that it'll be our secondary base, while our stuff will remain here, we'll also be going to the new base too. Basically a back up plan if the base we're at falls." He said.

"What're you talking about boss? Our shit will never fall." Nolan said.

"Keep telling yourself that. While I do enjoy being the one that is always on top, never say we won't fall. Thinking like that always leads to someone's downfall." Walker advised.

"My bad, boss." Nolan apologized. Winter raised and eyebrow when most of them except a few referred to them as boss, it seemed like they didn't do it out of the fact that he was a higher rank than them, but rather a form of respect. Their amount of respect wasn't normal, it was uncommon for someone as young as he was to have that much respect shown towards him. It almost made her jealous at how easily he obtained it. She was never one to be jealous but situations like these made her uncomfortable; someone like her had some respect while someone like him had a massive amount of it. Yet... she understood why he had gained that much, someone who's lost countless family members and friends in the span of five years and still had the drive to keep going deserved recognition. Someone who gives up their free time to train a couple of people he's only known for two years for the upcoming war deserves praise. But someone who's willing to sacrifice everything, even his life for her sister? That deserved her respect, her upmost at that.

"Hey guys, watch out for Amber. She's kind of a-" Jaune suddenly yelped in pain as his youngest sister somehow got up from behind them and slammed her head into the lower half of his spine, making a loud crack resonate. He skid a few feet in the gravel with his face in the ground while she sat on his back smiling widely.

"HI!" She beamed excitedly.

"H-hi Amber... can you get off me please?" He groaned hoarsely.

"Yeah! Mom and dad are so excited to see you!" She bounced up and down on his back, making him groan some more. On her final bounce she sprang off of him and stood in front of him while rocking on her heels. The others gave small laughs then almost burst out laughing when he shakily stood up with the help of Pyrrha, and made out a loud wheezing noise when Amber suddenly crashed into him and hugged him.

"I missed you!" She said, smiling up at him with her blue eyes.

"Missed you too, baby sis." He hugged back. The others smiled at their exchange while Walker felt a familiar tug at his heart as he watched the interaction, slowly backing away from the others and pulling out his prized picture. How that picture held such great value was a mystery, but it was one that was almost a relic. Amber kept everyone's attention for a second until Blake finally noticed him in the back staring down at the picture. She walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder then looked at the picture of him and Ajay, then back at Jaune and his sister, putting two and two together.

"You'll see him again." She said.

"I hope so. It's really something to have a sibling, you know?" He asked.

"I can only fathom what it feels like." She said.

"It's like being a parent but to an extremely lesser extent. A sibling can be your best friend." He said.

"I can only imagine. But let's enjoy this while it lasts." She pointed to the others and the approaching Arc family. The patriarch, John Arc, was the first one to greet his son with a handshake while the matriarch, Jennifer Arc, was next. His other six sisters; Jeannette, Jessica, Jill, Jane, Jenna, and Joy were next to hug him.

 _'Never seen a family with so much repetition when naming their kids.'_ Walker thought as he watched Jaune's family gesture towards his new physic and make different comments about him. Most of them were about how he was doing while the rest were about his physic, gesturing how he wasn't skinny anymore and put on some muscle mass. Summer went up to Jennifer and gave her a quick hug and asked how she was doing while the rest of the Arcs asked the Gears about themselves. They stood near the docking pad for a minute just talking to one another. None of them noticed how Walker left to the dropship without a sound and entered it, walking to the lower deck and opening a small hatch. He entered the tiny compartment and reached up to close the hatch before sitting in the seat with a screen that was a few feet away from him. It turned on with the COG symbol spinning quickly to signify that it was loading before a video popped up, his mother's face coming on the screen. It was a video of her before she died on the day of the second battle of Azura. He should have seen the signs... maybe if he had seen them before then he could have done something to save her. Maybe he could have-

 **"Hi Walker, it's me. I *Cough Cough* I just wanted to say that I'm proud of you. I know you've been busy on missions and keeping everybody safe from the locust... I know I've been gone for days at a time on the other side of the ship without seeing you, but I just wanted to say that I've always been proud of you. It's been hard since your father died and Ajay has been giving you trouble but you boys still are the two things I have left in this world." She started, stopping to cough some more but some blood came out this time. She coughed for a minute before finally composing herself enough to continue her message.**

 **"I know it's going to be hard for you and Ajay but you two will get through the trials. I haven't been the best mother in the world because I've been gone so long sometimes but the times I was with you I wholeheartedly enjoyed. You boys are the greatest thing to happen in my life. I would do anything to keep you safe... even experiment on myself with imulsion to find a way for you two to counter it..." She trailed off as she removed a bandage to reveal her veins glowing slightly. Tears leaked out of her eyes as she held her arm for a minute when pain flared up but she steeled herself and took a few deep breaths before finally conveying the final message.**

 **"Those final shots I gave you all a few months ago, Dead-Echo and you boys, was a modified version of imulsion. It took me a few weeks but I've managed to dampen the effects it has on the human body, while it doesn't make you immune, it does make you more resilient as time passes. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you all sooner... I just wanted to keep you all safe..." She said as more tears leaked out of her eyes, but one final push and she smiled brightly at the camera, the same way she would when he was a small child.**

 **"But, I know you'll do good in life sweetheart. You'll meet a woman and have a few kids, then you'll grow old and live your life to the fullest. You and your brother will be good men, you'll make a difference in the world, I can just feel it. So be the best a man can be Walker. You and Ajay will always be my golden boys... I love you both." She smiled at the camera as it suddenly stopped and the play button appeared once more.**

"Love you too mom." His voice cracked a bit as he stared at the video. He found this video three days after the war ended and cried like a baby when he first saw it. Despite his mother somewhat being gone from their life, she always did manage to do something to keep him and his team safe. His thoughts drifted from his family as he looked up and twisted the handle on the hatch, pushing it up and climbing out. That little private room was located just beneath the weapons room in the ship, only he knew about it which made alone time more effective, it was his little sanctuary from the outside world. A sigh escaped, before the sound of silence plagued the room quickly. A few minutes must have gone by before the sound of footsteps were made known and Ruby's head peeked around the corner.

"What are you doing here? Everybody's waiting for you." She said.

"Just enjoying the sound of silence Rubes. Nothing special." He leaned back. She hummed and walking inside before sitting next to him while leaning back also and looking at the room around them.

"You mind if I ask you something?" She asked.

"If it's about me getting help, relationships, or how I'm doing then forget asking it." He said.

"It's not that dummy... it's about after the war." She said, tucking her knees in.

"What about it?" He asked.

"How... what are you going to do after it?" She asked.

"Find a way home." He answered.

"Then what?" She asked again.

"Haven't thought that far ahead." He shrugged.

"If it was me, I'd find somebody to share my life with." She said, looking at him.

"Ruby... I'm tired. As much as I enjoy killing a grub like it was a game, it gets old after a while. You can only do so much before you know when to call it quits." He said.

"But what about the Grimm?" She asked.

"I can't do anything about that... I can train people to fight them but I can't beat them. I just want peace." He said.

"Well, if it means anything... your doing a good job." She smiled.

"Thanks." He shoved her shoulder before sighing and standing up. "Well, we might as well go with the others. See what the Arcs have planned." He added as he offered her a hand and she accepted it. She went out before him while he stood there in silence for a second before shaking his head and walking out of the weapons room and outside. Everyone was standing there talking to one another while waiting for him until they saw him standing at the doors. John walked up and shook his hand and set a hand on his shoulder while leading them to the mansion.

"So, Lieutenant. I hear Jaune is one of your top Gears." He said.

"I hold all my Gears in the same respect but yes, as far as coming up with tactics and battle plans, he is the best." Walker nodded.

"He always was good with tactics, but aside from that I wish you have you all for dinner tonight." John said.

"We came here for that sir, not to mention Jaune needs to see his family every once in a while." Walker shrugged.

"Aye, I still wish I could get out there. It's kind of hard to see your children go out and fight while you can't go anywhere, only thing left to do is take care of Jenna, Joy, and Amber as they create chaos within our house." John said.

"Hey! I don't create that much trouble." Joy pouted as she walked next to Jaune.

"Yes you do." Jennifer said. Joy pouted and mumbled something underneath her breath while the rest just laughed and walked closer to the mansion. On the way there, all of the Arcs and adults wanted to know about mission details but were shocked when the Gears swore in silence as to not disclose any personal information. John tried to get his son to tell more but was surprised when he stood firm and never said a thing. Even Summer and Tai were surprised when Ruby wouldn't say a thing, and she's usually one of the first people to blurt out information. Winter could understand why they couldn't say a thing, a majority of their missions were from the Council, the General and Ozpin, and their own. A few of them that were sanctioned by Walker were kept under the tightest of locks, so much that even Ozpin never knew happened. Only simple missions from different bases and the ones that made a change to the world were allowed to be disclosed to the public. Anything else was kept in the dark from the public, essentially the Gears were ghosts in the machine. Missions, conversations, affairs, and even their personal enjoyments were kept in secret. They were the force that strayed in between the public eye and in the dark.

"So what are you allowed to tell?" Jeannette, the oldest sister asked.

"Only the stuff the boss allows. Anything else were not at liberty to tell." Flynt said. All the Arcs looked at Walker as he gazed around the property, then back at the Gears to see that when each of them looked at him, it showed upmost respect. These were men and women who were prepared to give their lives for him as he would for them, they saw friends that had went through the hardships together and became a family.

"Why do they call him boss?" Jennifer whispered to Summer as they walked in the back.

"From what my girls said, it's not the fact that he's paying them but rather their loyalty towards him. He personally sacrificed his free time and put all his effort to train them individually. He made them a family on the battlefield that watched each other's backs and to never draw a weapon on one another. Essentially he's like their star role model they aspire to be." She answered.

"Then I guess we better thank him." Jennifer said.

"You're already thanking him by feeding him dinner. He doesn't like much praise actually, he just prefers to be acknowledged then being left to do his work." Summer said.

"Hmm, wish more people could be like him." The matriarch replied.

"Yeah..." Summer sighed and continued to walk towards the mansion. When the entered it, some of them were thoroughly impressed by the design. It was a cream filled color with white accents and a monochrome style floor, two sets of staircases curved into the upstairs level that split into two directions. They walked for a while and eventually came to the back of the mansion to see a table set up with a specific amount of chairs. It seemed that they had made specific arrangements for their arrival and prepared enough food for them all.

"Alright! Let's dig in!" Nora said as she sat down quickly and grabbed a plate.

"Nora..." Ren tried but fell on deaf ears as she was about to grab some ribs.

"Valkyrie!" Walker said in a firm tone, which made her halt in her tracks. Normally she would hate it when people called her by her last name but she couldn't help but shudder when Walker said it, it was almost like a parent scolding her. Even the adults shuddered slightly at his tone, it was one that that held no room for disrespect and held a deeper fury should he be pushed far enough. All the Gears shuffled uncomfortably at it and knew that all too well, him only showing it when he's disappointed or someone's about to cross the line.

"S-sorry." She laughed sheepishly. He jerked his head next to Ren and she was quick to scramble next to him. Ren sighed in relief when Nora was by his side; one of the reasons as to why he sought out Walker when handling Nora, not only was he the best at handling her when she wouldn't listen to him but she also feared a scolding session if she wouldn't.

"That uh... she's really a wild card eh?" Jeannette murmured to Jaune.

"You have no idea. Her and Yang are equal in energy but when Walker's around, they either come to a halt or suffer through his yelling." Jaune whispered.

"Is it that bad?" She asked.

"If he can make a seven foot tall stoic boy cry within the second day of training, then what do you think he's like when he's pissed? Nora did that once when she tried to touch his helmet... let's just say she fears his anger more than she fears an old Grimm." He whispered back. His sister could only shake internally at the hidden fury behind that calm exterior, it would take a complete maniac to invoke that power inside. Once she quickly apologized they all sat down and said a prayer before beginning to eat and discuss the funny moments at base, even eagerly waiting for a video of one of their best moments.

* * *

Several hours had gone by and all of them were in the living room calming themselves down from the personal funny training moments, these were rare and this was the only footage they all got of them training. Winter remained as passive as ever but had a faint smirk on her lips as she watched the conversations unfold, it was a different experience talking to somebody else besides the marines. Most were either complete suck ups or just tried to court her for a night. But being here with the Gears showed her something she had always longed for, people to talk to rather than her fellow soldiers. Friends. Never once had she had a friend, she had many acquaintances but never had she had any friends to have a simple conversation with.

A few more hours had passed by and the Gears were set to leave for the night, taking a few things to go with them. As they boarded the dropship and took their seats, John pulled Walker aside to speak with him for a few moments.

"I understand that you are their boss and everything and they're trained to practically be super soldiers but... keep my boy and his sister safe okay?" He asked.

"Sister?" Walker asked.

"Jane. She sent her application last week and told me you accepted it." John replied.

"... Now I remember her. Jane Arc, twin sister of Jaune, and is currently awaiting my choice. She wields a pair of dual daggers that has a stun function." Walker said.

"Right, if you are willing to train her-" John said.

"With all due respect sir, what I'm doing isn't training her, I'm essentially turning her into a weapon." Walker replied.

"... I'm aware of the costs." John said quietly.

"Know that I'm not going to be with them on every mission. I may fight next to them on the battlefield but they do missions with their teams, while I do mine solo. When they are on missions I can't guarantee their safety, they are soldiers with their own choices." Walker said.

"I know... but try to keep them safe, okay?" John pleaded.

"No promises but what kind of person would I be to let a soldier die without doing something?" Walker asked.

"A shitty person." The patriarch said.

"Exactly, she needs to be at Beacon by Monday night. She shows up any later and I'm not training her." Walker said.

"Is it alright if she goes with you all tonight? We can ship her stuff there when we get the chance." John said.

"Tell her to hurry, the Gears need to be up and I need to get ready for Monday." Walker said.

"Understood, Jane!" John shouted and watched as she looked at them and quickly gave each sister a hug before hugging her mother and jogging over to them.

"Are we leaving?" She bounced on her feet.

"Yes... remember to look after yourself and your brother." He said before giving her a quick hug and watching as she went with Walker back to the dropship, gaping at its sleek design and some of the scrapes and dents from the previous battles. The two walked together in silence for a few minutes before she spoke up.

"What are we doing first sir?" She asked.

"I'm not going to lie to you Arc. You're stepping into shoes others would rather leave unfilled. Me? I'm just happy to have the Gears gain another soldier, but when you are training underneath me, you are nothing but a piece of dog shit with no value. I will do everything in my power to break you into pieces and rebuild you better than before. Don't think that your last name holds anything when training, because it doesn't. You are in the same place as every other recruit until you all pass." He said as they neared the transport. She shrunk down at his sudden change in attitude and finally understood by what Jaune had meant in "Training mode". It was truly unsettling to see such a respectable, funny man turn into a cold calculating war hero in the matter of seconds.

"So what am when I pass?" She asked.

"A soldier in the war. There are no heroes in war so drop that attitude right now, I don't need egotistical assholes in my ranks." He said.

"You won't get that from me sir." She said.

"Don't call me sir when we're not training or on the field." He said, making her blink.

"What am I supposed to call you then?" She asked, making him stop when a memory flashed for a second. A memory of his younger self when he first met his team, when he first met his new family on the battlefield five years ago.

"Walker or Boss... I don't care. So long as you show some respect." He said and entered with her.

"Got it boss." She said and looked around for a seat next to her brother.

"Otherwise welcome to the Gears, rookie." He said and sat in the co-pilot's seat. Everybody gave her a wave while she gave a sheepish one back and leaned back in her seat, leaning her head when Jaune whispered in her ear.

"You're going to love it here." He whispered.

"Really?" She asked.

"Nope." He snickered, making her punch his shoulder.

"Asshole." She said.

"Whatever, but here's a tip for training. Make sure you don't fuck up." He said, making her recoil at his sudden use of vulgarity.

"Got it." She nodded.

* * *

Turns out he didn't have to go to Junior's club after all, Roman and Neo said they'd take the job if they could have the next few days off. He granted it and stretched a bit before deciding the recruits would train a day early, which meant they could get out there faster and the fight against the horde would be combated sooner. It was around four in the morning when he woke up and got ready but it was five when the current Gears woke up. They all greeted him and he sent a curt nod back before grabbing something and going to the recruits temporary quarters. In his hand was a air horn and pressing on it, going by each door and kicking on it before he stood at the end of the hallway, waiting as each recruit scrambled out with wide eyes.

"I remember specifically telling all of you asshats to be up by 0600. So why the fuck is it past that time when you all woke up?!" He shouted, making some of them jump. Nobody bothered to answer him until he blew the air horn again, this time a longer duration.

"We thought that you wanted us up later, sir." Someone said at the end of the hall.

"No, if I wanted you up later then I would have slept in myself. Get your asses to the training grounds!" He commanded and watched as each one scramble to the grounds. After a few minutes of walking he finally arrived at the track field to see some them in two groups, one full of White Fang while the other was just the Marines, something that made him narrow his eyes.

"Tell me why you all are in two groups." He sighed annoyed.

"I'm not working with those high and mighty assholes." A White Fang grunt said from the back, earning a few glares from the Marines. He marched to the end of the line and came across the faunus, a weasel one to be exact, and stared at him while he just flashed a cheeky smile back.

"What?" He asked. He suddenly was on the ground in pain when Walker sent a quick punch to his diaphragm, he then sent an ax kick to the back of his head then knelt down next to his wheezing form and gripped his hair and forced his head up.

"So you think that you're better than them? Get real, weasel. You and the rest are at the same place underneath my boot until proven otherwise, so get rid of that arrogant fucking attitude or I'll shove my fist so far down your throat I'm ripping you intestines out, got it?" He asked. The grunt gave a harsh sounding yes before being forced up by the shoulders and thrown back in line. Everybody saw Walker begin to pace in front of the seventy of them while speaking loudly.

"When you shit stains are training underneath me, you are nothing! You are merely worthless sacks of flesh sitting at the bottom of a dumpster, I will do everything I can to break you into tiny pieces. But when you get past these little insults, only then will you truly see what you are capable of! You will be people that others aspire to be and then some, you are no longer merely men and women of the common world, but protectors of the helpless who can't defend themselves against the horde! You are brothers and sisters on the battlefield that will never leave a person behind unless you can't do anything else! So help me God if you leave someone or use your training to kill the innocent then I'll personally slaughter you myself! Do I make myself clear?!" He shouted.

"Yes sir!" They responded.

"You may be enemies now but when you're done here, you'll be a family! You will be Gears!" He finished and made them cheer before calming down. "Now get your asses in check because we're starting!" He added and made them snap in line. The current Gears could only smirk at him, this was someone who's been through it all yet he still had enough to keep pushing forward and teach others. They watched as the recruits did push ups and some of them fall but Walker made them keep going, through harsh encouragement of course, but they really just wanted to see him hurl insults at them.

"What the fuck are you all doing?! Get to training!" He shouted at them.

"I thought we got the day off?" Neon asked.

"No! Get your asses to steppin' or I'm going to rip you a new one!" He shouted, making them sigh and begin to train with the recruits. A Marine fell behind but quickly picked up his pace when Walker promised to add another hour of torture for everyone if he continued to fall behind. All the recruits could finally understand why the Gears were so strong, there were no strings pulled on the first day of training. One almost fell on the ground but jumped back up in surprise when Walker shouted an insult that struck the trainee to the core, some of the current Gears laughed loudly but immediately clamped their mouths shut when he turned his stern gaze to them.

Two hours had passed by and they were still training, the recruits could only pant hoarsely as they continued to train. Not even their basic training ran this long, they looked to see some of the current Gears falling behind but Walker continued to train as if he wasn't tired at all. At the fence a few of the students could only watch in awe at the hundred individuals trained, some even started to record but blanked when they heard someone clear their throat and turned to see Goodwitch tapping her foot while a stern scowl was evident on her face. Despite her having some control over the academy, she knew when she stepped into Walker's training grounds it was like stepping foot into someone else's territory. Ozpin had specifically given him access to the territory and said it was his until the war was over, which meant only a handful of people were allowed in there, her being one of them. There was also the fact that video footage of training was completely confidential and was required to be confiscated.

"Children... you are aware of the consequences, are you not?" She asked.

"Y-Yes ma'am." One of them stuttered.

"Scrolls, now." She said firmly. All of them except one handed over their scrolls while he just stared at her.

"Why?" He asked.

"Because of the rules, young man." She answered.

"That's stupid. What makes them so special? Nothing, so what if they go and fight those things? We can too." He said.

"Yet here you are training to be a huntsman." She said with narrowed eyes.

"Because I want to protect people. They just fight those things, when do they ever fight Grimm?" He asked. She was about to say something until Walker was suddenly at the fence, leaning on it with sweat dripping off his figure.

"Because those missions are for students like you. And we do take those missions, only when there's no available huntsman or huntresses left to take up the job." He said, startling the five students.

"So what makes you all special, hmm?" The kid asked.

"Nothing." Walker answered nonchalantly.

"What?" Another student asked.

"You really thought I would say something like, "Because we're the ones that fight the more serious threat." Get real kiddies, we just fight the shit we're trained to do." He answered.

"I'm still not satisfied." The insubordinate commented.

"I don't care if you're not satisfied, give up the scroll or I'll expose you to the true horrors of war." Walker said.

"I can handle them." The kid smirked arrogantly.

"Have you ever lost a friend? You ever kill something other than an animal or Grimm? You ever committed acts that make you look like a monster in other's eyes? Have you lost an entire city block full of innocent people because of a mistake you made?" Walker asked as his helmet lights began to grow brighter and brighter malevolently as he kept asking questions, making the other student's knees buckle. Glynda decided it was time to step in.

"Walker, that's enough." She said.

"Let me ask one last question Ms. Goodwitch." He said then turned back to the insubordinate. "Have you ever killed a person?" He asked, making him shake in his shoes suddenly.

"No." He answered.

 **"Then you don't know what it's like to go through the hardships of war, to take a life and feel nothing... so give up the scroll or I'll skin you alive and use your flesh as a fucking rug!"** Walker suddenly snarled as his helmet lights turned yellow, making the kid give the scroll without hesitance. Glynda threw the kid behind her and sent Walker a calm yet stern glare as he continued to stare at them. They turned back to their blue color when he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Blake's hand on it, he gently took it off and sent her a nod.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah... just a little irritated." He said as he turned back to the students, who all went behind Glynda.

"While I came here to confiscate the video footage of the training. I also came to discuss another meeting with the council." She said.

"Thought another meeting wasn't supposed to happen for another month. We haven't done anything to prove our worth for this month yet." He said.

"This is more of a personal favor from them. Should you all complete this then they would be most grateful." She said.

"You have the files on you?" He asked. She merely nodded and used her semblance to send the folder over the fence and into his hands, to which he opened and sifted through while Blake looked at them also, reading some of the files when he handed her a few then took them back when she handed them back.

"When's the meeting?" He asked.

"In two weeks. Saturday morning at nine, that should give you all enough time to get ready and you should be off your Grimm mission by then." Glynda said as she fixed her glasses.

"Depends on if we can get another dropship for us. Ash's been having troubles with the Dropship, fucking controls are on the fritz and we're waiting for that smart ass from Mistral to get here. So we're stuck with the bullhead for now. Not to mention the Roman and Neo are investigating a possible weapon's lead for us, which in turn I'm going to need to help out with." He said with a sigh. The students, besides the insubordinate, were slowly gaining interest at the amount of information that was being said. It was sort of unnerving when most of the student populace saw the two famed criminals walking freely at their school.

"Well aside from that, Ozpin and I wish to have dinner with you and the others." She said.

"The others are busy besides the Blake and I. But it depends on where we're going." He said.

"You'll see, come along children I do believe you have classes to attend to." She said, turning to them as they blanked when they realized it they had classes to attend to. They quickly ran off while she just sighed and began to follow them, leaving the two standing there with the file in his hands. She yawned and stretched a bit before breathing out in relief when her back popped.

"Tired?" He asked.

"Sort of, you think we've had enough training for the day?" She asked.

"Considering I'm doubling the time since I began training you all? Yes, you can call it a day." He said.

"Finally." She breathed, noticing he didn't even look tired. "How are you not tired?" She asked.

"Don't get endurance like this just sitting on my ass Blake, you know that." He replied.

"You are an ass." She jabbed.

"And you have a good one, now come on." He said as he tapped her's when he walked by, making her yelp and her face grow red. She was quickly shaken out of her stupor and quickly caught up to his laughing figure and slapped his arm. His shoulders kept bouncing up and down as he continued to laugh, while the others could only raise an eyebrow at what he did this time to put her in such a state.

* * *

All of the current Gears were completely taken by surprise at how well they secured the settlement from the Grimm. They knew fighting locust wasn't an easy task and that Grimm were dangerous opponents but to see them taken out so quickly really made them consider sticking to locust, that is if they wanted a challenge. The settlement, which was named Outer Haven, was considered a sanctuary against the Grimm to some. It's fortified walls provided a barrier against the common Grimm, the mounted guns provided defensive measures to keep them from the walls, while a bunker below provided a last chance safe guard should the walls be breached. The citizens had requested immediate support from them since the main wall had been breached and the Grimm started pouring in, killing around a dozen people. Their saving grace came from the sky, literally, when they heard a bullhead fly over and its occupants dive towards the ground, using the initial shock from the landing to stun the Grimm.

The townspeople could only watch in awe from their windows as the threat was dealt with swiftly, the only thing that made their worries skyrocket was when a Nevermore was seen in the sky, screeching at the top of its lungs. What happened next could only be described as an epic dogfight as the bullhead swerved and barrel rolled out of incoming collisions and razor sharp feathers launched its way. As the Grimm flew towards the vehicle, it couldn't keep up with the Mulcher or the One Shot rounds and took a few to its wing and plummeted towards the ground. Before it could get up, assault trucks slammed on its skull and cracked it open before the Gears quickly finished it off by destroying its brain. The bullhead flew around the settlement a few times for another sweep of it before slowly descending down and hovering a few feet above the ground.

Walker's feet hit the ground and he slammed his fist on the bay door and watched as it took off and began to head in a random direction before he looked at the Gears as they kept an eye on the breached wall. Some of the townsfolk came out of hiding and started to go towards where they were but were stopped by SSSN and told to stay where they were. One man, who looked to be an angry businessman, stepped up to them but didn't look happy in the slightest.

"Who's in charge?!" He questioned, looking around at each one of them.

"That would be me." Walker said from the gate. The man marched towards him and glared at him before pushing him slightly and poking his chest.

"We needed help almost an hour ago! Where were you assholes then?!" He shouted.

"You do realize you're not exactly anywhere close to where we're set up? Time flies by when you're stuck in a bullhead to get to an outer settlement." Walker answered flatly.

"We lost a dozen people! People that had families! I thought you all were a rapid deployment group?! Yet you all took your sweet fucking time!" The man shouted.

"We got here as fast as we could. We're not angels who can save everyone, so sorry about that." Velvet apologized.

"I don't need any sympathy from you, animal! Stay out of this!" He turned to her, making her ears flatten. Everybody stepped in front of her while sending glares at him. Even some of the townspeople shook their heads disappointingly at the man as he shouted more and more insults towards Velvet before he felt a hand on his shoulder then a fist to his jaw, knocking him on the ground. He groaned and tried to get up before he felt a boot on his back and turned this head to see Walker's soulless gaze stare at him.

"You can talk about me all you want, but you never talk about my family. We do more shit and experience more death than you ever will, you fucking prick. We got here as soon as we got the message that this place was being attacked. If we waited another hour then you would have lost more than a dozen people. So be grateful that we're the ones who got here and not the rest of the horde over the mountain." Walker said in a hollow tone while applying pressure on the man's back. He took his foot off the man's back and sent his hand towards the truck. They all began to pile into the two armored trucks with Walker getting in the driver's seat, but not before addressing the people.

"Stay in your homes until we return; you hear gunfire, don't try and be a hero or you'll die. We'll be back asap but in the meantime barricade your homes and defend yourselves." He ordered and shut the door. The vehicle quickly spun around while kicking up gravel before speeding off into the mountains, the other vehicle close behind.

The drive there was quiet with the exception of the outside noise. All of them kept watch for the occasional Grimm ambush but otherwise didn't say a word. Every time they hit a rock or something, the truck would bounce and shake everybody around for a quick second before they recollected themselves. Yang shuffled in the passenger seat and turned her head to see Velvet's downcast gaze staring blankly while her ears were pressed against her head, she wanted to say something but Walker beat her to the punch.

"You're not an animal, Velvet." He said after a few minutes of silence.

"That man didn't share your viewpoint." She said.

"Well, screw him. He's not us." Coco said.

"It doesn't matter... that's all I'll ever be in people's eyes." She said dejectedly. Everyone, including the truck behind, jumped in surprise when the truck suddenly stopped and Walker swung his body around and glared at her.

"Shut your fucking mouth." He said firmly, making her ears press against her skull some more.

"I mean-" She started.

"I said shut it!" He ordered, making her clamp her mouth shut. "If you were some animal then you'd be out in the wild either fleeing or fighting for your life. You're a goddamn Gear, we don't let assholes like that prick bring us down, you've dealt with my insults that made you and everyone else cry. So why are you getting upset about someone calling you something you're not?" He asked.

"Because it's not you." She answered quietly.

"Bullshit because it's not me. It's not because it's not me, it's because you took his insult to heart. You're a fucking Gear, a faunus Gear nonetheless, we're special forces of Vale who fight genocidal monsters from the ground below. Insults are like rain water to us, we brush that shit off. So tell me Velvet, are you a Gear or an animal?" He asked.

"I'm a Gear." She said quietly.

"Louder." He said.

"A Gear." She said a little louder.

"I can't fucking hear you!" He shouted.

"I'm a goddamn Gear!" She shouted with confidence, her ears fully standing at this point.

"Then start acting like it." He said and turned to start driving again. The others gave her playful shoves and sent her reassuring smiles when she said that, a smile came across her face when she saw people that cared for her and backed her up when push came to shove. They also sent Walker a grateful smile when he knocked the man on his ass, qualities like that made him a leader in their eyes. As the drive began to slow to a stop, they got out and saw a huge mountain that had a patch of black on it. Everyone got out of the trucks and stood near the edge of the cliff looking at the mountain in the distance where a large populace of Grimm resided.

"That's a lot of Grimm." Bolin commented.

"Yeah... you think we can pick some of them off with the snipers?" Octavia asked.

"Unless you want the horde coming after us all at once, no." Jaune said.

"You got a better idea?" Walker asked.

"How about we use the heavy hitters to thin some of the horde from the east and west while snipers and support stay up here and pick off the stragglers." Jaune said.

"That could work. Yet, you forgot about the infantry units. I'm not bashing your plan but adding to it. Going off what Jaune said, heavy hitters hit the horde from the east and west while the snipers stay up here. Infantry units... we're heading smack dead in the middle." Walker said, making their eyes widen.

"But what about horde coming down on us?" Yang asked.

"Got a plan for that also." He said as he walked to the truck and went inside for a minute before coming out with a mortar. "We're acting as bait for this baby to take care of the rest." He informed.

"And that is?" Nora asked.

"A mortar, but unlike Remnant's mortars, this baby scatters into explosive bombs that rain fiery glory on the enemies. Keep in mind we'll need to be at a safe distance to avoid the blast zone." He answered, making the Valkyrie and reaper visibly vibrate and stars appear in their eyes.

"Which one of us gets to use it?!" Ruby asked excitedly.

"Neither of you." He pointed, making them deflate and look at him with puppy dog eyes.

"B-But... please?" She blubbered.

"No. Yatsuhashi, get over here." He called out and watched as the taller man made his way over to them. He tossed the mortar to him and Yatsuhashi caught it with ease, but everyone was too busy figuring out how Walker seems to toss these things as if they were chairs.

"Uh... Walker?" Velvet asked.

"Yep." He said.

"How is it that you toss these things around like that?" She asked.

"I lift a lot." He answered.

"How much?" Yang asked with a smirk.

"Four-hundred and five pounds." He answered as he tied a rope to the truck and threw the remainder over the cliff.

"I can lift more." She said.

"Keep in mind Yang, I don't have an aura. So me lifting that much is considered above average for an eighteen going on nineteen year old." He replied.

"I thought you just turned eighteen?" Blake asked.

"I've been eighteen, for like three months." He said.

"What?! Why didn't you tell any of us?" Nora exclaimed.

"Because I stopped celebrating my birthday when I joined the army." He said.

"That's not going to cut it boss, we got to take you somewhere." Nebula said.

"No, you don't. Look, we'll discuss this after we get this mission done." He said as they all nodded, they began to fast rope down before Cardin spoke up.

"Boss, how much are we getting paid for this mission?" He asked.

"As a whole? A hundred and twenty-thousand lien, but that's before the I pay all of you. So my gross is about sixty-thousand." Walker answered. He heard the sound of the rope being zipped and a body hitting the ground before he looked down to see Sage on the ground groaning before looking up.

"That's an ass load of money!" He said while getting up and dusting himself off.

"Not when I spend it on ordering vehicles and ammunition, not to mention using the extraction device and calling Ash for pick up or support." Walker said as he reached the bottom and looked around.

"That's still a lot of money, how much do you have in your account?" Ruby asked over the radio.

"Somewhere between one million and two." He answered, making Arslan spit her water out when she took a drink out of her canteen. "Why are you all so surprised? I told you I get paid a lot, how the hell do you think I bought that base out at sea? It wasn't a gift from Beacon or the council. It was because I bought it and turned it into a base." He added.

"You really know how to make something awesome sound boring. Almost like how Weiss does." Yang said.

"Hey!" She said.

"Yeah? Well at least I'm not afraid to lose a strand of hair and freak out over it." He retorted. A middle finger was what he got in return, making everyone laugh for a second before they trekked further into the forest while keeping a vigilant eye out. The heavy hitters began to split off into two groups while Walker, Blake, Gwen, Velvet, Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nebula took up the middle, each of them keeping their weapons at the ready. Minutes passed by and they still continued to walk towards the mountain where the mass of Grimm could be heard. Eventually they all came to a large divot in the mountain to see the horde in their black pile of fur, scales, and chitinous hide. They looked to their left and right to see the heavy hitters come up and peek over the edge and give a thumbs up while they gave one back and waiting until Walker counted down from three before grabbing a grenade and throwing it into the mass. Everyone peeked over the mound and began to fire into the horde as soon as the grenade exploded, killing a small amount of the Grimm. They took their notice off of the object they were observing and snarled/shrieked at the Gears and began to charge at them. Most of them were gunned down mercilessly as the lancer and hammerburst rounds tore through their bodies, spilling black flesh and red blood all over the ground. The heavy hitters started to fire whatever ranged weapons they had at the horde and thinned them out.

The Gears started to fall back as soon as Walker gave the order and run towards the mountain edge, the snipers covered them as they ran back and killed any Grimm in front of them. Once Yatsuhashi saw that they were in the clear he aimed the mortar at an angle and fired it, everyone could only watch as the mortar soared in the air then split into clusters. The clusters landed on the ground and exploded into the mass of Grimm chasing them. More flesh and blood painted the ground as more and more mortars decimated them, eventually when the last mortar was launched it managed to kill an Ursa major that was about to blindside Yang. The last remaining Grimm tried to charge at Walker but he quickly revved up his chainsaw and cut it in half, kicking the bisected corpse away and watched as it slowly evaporated along with the rest. All was silent for a few minutes before they lowered their weapons and perked up when Walker started to walk back towards where the large surge of Grimm was at.

"What are you doing?" Blake asked.

"They were surrounding something, last time I checked it was rare for Grimm to be acting like that without attacking." He answered and kept walking towards the mountain. "Half of you need to head back to Outer Haven and secure it while the residents get their wall back up. The rest of you, follow me." He ordered. SSSN, ABR(N), CRD(L), and FNKI all began to head back to the trucks while the rest of the teams followed him. As they made their way back to the divot, a small ping could be heard and they looked at Walker to see him holding his helmet then walk faster. A few minutes went by and they finally arrived at the divot, it was deep enough to require a rope to climb back up but shallow enough to slide down easily.

"What do you want us to do?" Jaune asked.

"Stay up here and make sure no Grimm or locust blindside us. I'm heading down there to see what that signal is." Walker answered and began to slide down, he had his lancer in his left hand while he used his right to slow his sliding speed, once he reached the bottom he jumped then rolled when his feet hit the bottom. He ignored the bodies that littered the ground and walked closer to what looked like a hunk of gray metal underneath the body of an Ursa. The pinging was faster the closer he to to it until it was beeping so fast he hit the side of his helmet to make it turn off. Despite the fact that the body was massive, it was relatively easy to move since it was almost gone at this point, when he threw the body to the side his eyes widened when he saw a familiar looking bot.

"JACK?" He asked when he saw the small bot on the ground, he knew it was Dead-Echo's since he had the COG navy and army insignia on each side of his head. He knelt down to he and saw that it was in his dormant state and started to inspect him for damage, he appeared to be in decent condition but just turned off. If he remembered correctly, there was a-

Jack suddenly levitated in the air and took in his surroundings for a second before his optics landed on Walker, who just held up his COG tag and let the bot inspect it for a second before he let out a few happy beeps.

"How's it going buddy?" Walker asked, receiving a few confirmatory beeps in acknowledgement making him chuckle. "Listen, you're rolling with me now. This place isn't like Sera, so stay close to me when shit hits the fan." He said, making the bot give a few beeps. Jack cloaked and disappeared from sight while Walker had a smirk on his lips before he walked back to the side and gave a sharp whistle; a few seconds later Blake's ribbon was tossed over the edge and he grabbed onto it, giving it a few tugs and began to climb. Once he reached the top he saw everyone look at him.

"What?" He asked.

"So uh... what was that thing?" Yang asked.

"What thing?" He asked.

"Oh come on Walker. We all saw that little robot disappear, what was it?" Weiss asked.

"It's JACK." He answered.

"That's cute, but seriously what was it?" Yang asked.

"I just told you, Yang. It's JACK." He said, walking past them.

"Where'd it go though? We just saw him vanish." Ren said.

"JACK..." Walker called out. A few seconds went by and the bot uncloaked and went in front of him, giving off a few beeps before floating around them all. All of them could only stare at it in bewilderment, they had seen more advanced bots but to see one that could cloak and float at the same time and was from a different world was something you don't see everyday.

"So what is he?" Blake asked.

"JACK's a designated general-use assistant that us Gears used. He's used as support for squads and other purposes, in other words he's a Jack-of-All-Trades Robot." He answered as they continued to walk towards the mountain edge, where the rope was still dangling there. JACK cloaked as soon as they began to climb the rope and all of them saw Ruby and May on the ground, aiming through their scopes while Yatsuhashi remained kneeling there with the mortar. The three perked up when the others began to climb over the edge while walking towards the truck. Once Pyrrha was over the edge, she started to pull the rope up before rolling it into a coil and placing it in the truck. They all began to climb in the truck before JACK reappeared, startling Ruby and May, before he floated near the back of the truck and gave a few confused beeps before maneuvering a bit and compressing his body. Ruby blinked in bewilderment when he suddenly just dropped near her feet while May raised an eyebrow and began poking him with her sniper.

"May, you fuck him up and I'm kicking your ass." Walker said from the driver's seat.

"My bad, boss. You never told me that some mysterious bot was just going to enter the truck and drop near our feet." She said sarcastically.

"Um, we didn't really see anything once you guys came out of the hill. So what is he?" Ruby asked.

"I'll fill you in later, right now we need to get back to the settlement. Lord knows that asshole is going to start some shit." He replied and drove towards the settlement. Seconds turned to minutes before that turned to tens of minutes as they continued to drive in silence. They eventually made it to the settlement and saw the teams standing guard as they residents rebuilt their wall, it was made of scrap metal and wood but it would have to do until the repairmen could get here and fix the wall, but knowing the current status of the war... it would take a few hours to a day.

As they climbed out of the truck, they saw the leader step up to Walker and exchange a few words with him before nodding and gesturing for her people to step back into their homes, to which they reluctantly did so. The two discussed means of protection and payment for their services while the others stood guard at the hole in the wall, very faintly they could hear him curse and wondered what triggered that. Eventually after tens of minutes of discussing he called them over to where the two stood.

"So, it turns out that the mayor here needs an armed escort to get to the city while the rest of you stay here until the repair team gets here. Good news, we have enough bodies to spare. Bad news, we don't have enough vehicles for a completely safe escort and the route is mainly mountainside, which means you're travelling on foot. The other problem is that city is at least a four hour hike from here." He informed.

"So who's doing it?" Arslan asked.

"Whoever wants to do it. We need to make a decision now because I'm needed back at base to train the recruits." He said. Nobody said anything for a second which made the mayor a little anxious, she thought no one would take her to the city before CRD(L) spoke up.

"We'll do it, boss." Cardin said, making everybody look at them.

"You sure? I mean, won't it be hard with a three man team?" She asked.

"They're capable of doing it. I have full confidence they'll keep you safe." Walker said, looking at the three. "Every single one of them is capable, so just do what they say and you'll be fine." He added. A breath of relief escaped her lips and she nodded.

"Boss, is there anyway you can drive us a portion of the way there?" Russel asked.

"Yeah, we'll get you at least an hour or two in at most but keep in mind that when you reach the drop off point, you need to move it. It's beginning to get dark and I want you three back here by that time. Being out at night is the most dangerous time, especially with the grubs stalking around. And if you three hear sniffing and snarling while the ground shakes... find a cave and wait until morning, we'll be there as quick as we can." Walker warned.

"We won't let you down, sir." The three saluted.

"I know you won't. CFVY, drive them there and head back to help guard the town." He ordered, receiving nods from the team and watched as they climbed in the truck, along with the mayor and her escorts. Everyone watched as the truck sped out of the town and towards its destination, they turned back to see him on his scroll and ordering a pickup for him.

"If the repairmen aren't hear in the next few hours then do we just stay here?" Neon asked.

"Yeah, only reason I'm heading back is to train the recruits. Once the training session is over I'm heading back here to help guard, but if they get here before tomorrow then I'll come back earlier to pick you all up." He answered. They seemed satisfied with his answer and watched as he set his scroll down and listened for a minute before they saw their prized Dropship nearing before it lowered the bay doors and hovered above the ground. He set both his hands on the door and jumped up before going in the storage area and dropping two duffel bags.

"What's this?!" Jaune shouted over the noise of the transport.

"Food and ammunition! Should keep you guys good until tomorrow!" He shouted. Numerous thumbs ups was what he received while he sent one back and watched as their silhouettes got smaller in the distance before he stepped back and saw the bay door close. A sigh escaped his lips before he walked to the cockpit and sat in the copilot's seat, sending a thumbs up towards Ash.

"Back to Beacon?" He asked.

"Yeah, we'll be heading back to pick them up." Walker answered.

"Alright. Hey kid... you mind if I ask you something?" Ash asked.

"You already asked but sure." Walker said.

"You mind if I take some of my other pilot friends underneath my wing?" Ash asked.

"How many and why?" Walker asked back.

"Well, I've been thinking. I'm your guys' only pilot, for both pickup and support, so I was wondering if maybe there were more pilots then I wouldn't always have to drop what I'm doing to grab you guys." Ash said. Walker rubbed the bottom of his helmet and thought about it for a minute as he looked on.

"That could work, I'll need to run a background check and get them underneath my payroll, but it would work. What brought this about?" He asked.

"Well, I was talking to my son about school, he's been having trouble with his algebra, and he kept mentioning why I was always gone." Ash said.

"Ash, you can visit your family. I'm not going to dissuade you from checking up on them. Only reason I want you at base is so that when we need help then I know you're on your way. I never said you couldn't check up on them." Walker said.

"I know, I know but I just can't help but stay here. This has been a huge step up for me. I go from simply being a transport pilot to a full blown combat one, hell I didn't even pass the combat test." Ash exclaimed.

"Well, none of that matters since you're a combat pilot for a PMC." Walker said.

"Yeah, hard to believe that I'm in this position. Never been even close to being in the military and I got the second highest medal for helping save a kingdom, that's going in the collection." Ash chuckled.

"Well, I mean you did help rid the sky of Reavers that day, not many people can fly like that." Walker commented.

"I guess so. Believe it or not, I told my kids that story a few weeks after we got back. Both my daughters were practically vibrating in their seats as I told them, while my son sat there with his eyes glued on me. Never in my life had I seen him so focused before, I think it was at that moment he wanted to be a pilot like me. Hell, even my wife was glued to the story." Ash said.

"I seem to bring that effect on people. Give them stories to tell their kids." Walker said.

"I've got to bring you over one day. My kids practically adore you, while my wife likes you already." Ash said.

"Why?" Walker asked the pilot.

"Have you not been listening? Kid, you've actually managed to save our home. Not only do I have a job that pays more than ever, I'm happier while doing it, my kids finally have a goal that they want to keep, and I'm able to pay of my debts from college." He said.

"Shit... didn't think I did that much." Walker murmured.

"Yeah, that's why everybody looks up to you. You may not seem to notice but the Gears program is actually creating jobs. Where I lived, so many people were unemployed and actually found a job at Beacon due to it." Ash said.

"Again, shit. Yet, there's still more that needs to be done when we move to the base out at sea. We still need medical staff, intel teams, soldiers, cooks, mechanics, custodians, engineers, industrial technicians, etc. There's still a number of others I need to hire, not to mention how am I going to pay them?" Walker asked.

"Kid, listen to yourself. You're turning the Gears program into something great, I don't know if you've noticed but you already have a company full of soldiers which pulls in more money than any other group. By next two years, you'll have at least a battalion." Ash said.

"I'll have a regiment." Walker corrected.

"Uhhh... how big is that?" Ash asked.

"A thousand to five thousand-five hundred. They're increasing the amount of troops that are being pushed through the training. That's why they're having me personally train drill instructors." Walker answered. All went quiet for a few minutes before Ash spoke up.

"Hard to believe you're only eighteen." He said.

"Paying a forty seven year old man." Walker finished.

"Amen to that. But you do pay me good." Ash said.

"Hell yeah, everybody's getting payed the same. I get paid the most though." He said.

"How much you get paid this mission?" Ash asked.

"A hundred-twenty thousand lien, which is before I pay all of you." Walker answered, making Ash's eyes widen.

"Damn kid, I see you. Getting payed, so you can pay us good." He spoke lazily.

"Funny thing is, I don't have to pay you guys." Walker said.

"Really?!" Ash asked.

"Oh yeah, the council actually pays _me_. I just pay you guys because I'm not greedy and I know that people also need the money." Walker replied.

"Heh, well good on you kid. My kid's are gonna love the shit out of you." Ash chuckled.

"Plan on meeting them soon." Walker said as they saw the landing pad and flew towards it. After a few minutes, they finally arrived at it and maneuvered the Dropship around so that the doors was facing the academy. "Alright, Ash. I'll see you tomorrow." He said.

"Bye kid, my wife said she's willing to meet in a couple of weeks." He said back.

"Find out when and I'll try to make it." Walker said as he walked backwards, receiving a nod in return before he turned back and began walking towards his room. He needed to get those recruits trained, they needed to get this war over with.

* * *

"I really don't see the point of this." Walker sighed as he was led through the dorm house with a blindfold over his helmet. He was busy doing his job and getting ready to put the recruits through a training exercise when the girls barged into his room and suddenly through a blindfold over his helmet.

"It's a surprise." Yang smirked.

"And it couldn't wait until I was done with work?" He asked.

"Nope!" Ruby said cheerfully. All he could do was sigh and continue to walk to where the girls led him to. It took a minute but finally he was able to sit down then blink in surprise when he saw the Gears, the current ones, were surrounding him while smiling. His eyes trailed down to the massive cake on the table and he raised an eyebrow before jumping back in his chair when they all shouted.

"Happy late birthday, Boss/Walker!" They shouted in unison.

"Wow, I uh... didn't really expect this." He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, blow out your candles." Weiss gestured. He nodded and clicked the side of his helmet, tilting it up and blowing out the candles. It's been a few years since he's actually celebrated his birthday and to do so actually made him happy. He cut it open and handed everyone a piece of it before getting himself a piece and tilting his helmet up, reveling in the fact that it was red velvet. Once he finished eating the cake, he saw that there were presents on the table. Each team had gotten him a present, the first was from JNPR with getting him a bobble head of him, next was CFVY and they got him a camera, BRNZ was after them and they got him a jump rope. CRD(L) were the next team and they had gotten him an emblem of the Gears with a bird skull on it, Flynt and Neon got him some headphones, NDGO had given him some gift cards, ABR(N) had given him some new wrapping tape, SSSN had given him some tickets, Penny and Ciel had gotten him a new military watch, and finally the girls had a big surprise for him.

They led them all outside and across the academy grounds before leading them to the weapon's shop, a place where all of them did routine maintenance on their weapons and gear. After a few minutes of travelling inside they blinked their eyes from the glare of the light and saw something covered in a white sheet. Ruby was practically vibrating in her spot and almost squealed when he finally arrived.

"Okay, I know something is under that." He pointed.

"I'm glad you asked." She snapped her fingers.

"I never really asked but okay." He replied, making her stick her tongue out at him.

"Behold! The magnificent battle-mech that took almost all of my spare time, resources, and numerous energy drinks!" She shouted and ripped the sheet off. Everyone's eyes, including Walker's, widened when they saw a shiny Silverback waiting for a new occupant. He slowly circled it and brushed his hand against it, feeling the smooth exterior and gazing at its elegance, he liked the war-torn ones back on Sera better but this was simply amazing in his eyes. The fact that she built this for him made him give her a brief one armed hug and thanking her.

"No problem." She squeaked out with a pink tint to her face.

"Like, holy shit. How the hell did you even get the systems up? Not even I could do that." He said.

"Penny helped me with that. Not to mention JACK had a tutorial on that little screen of his. Who knew that such a cute little robot could do all that. Ooh! Can we add weapons on him?!" She asked.

"No." He merely said.

"But... why? I'm with Ruby on this, why can't your little robot have weapons?" Nora asked.

"Because JACK's something that'll only let me touch him. He'll let other people near him but as far as touching, he doesn't even come close to anyone else." He replied.

"You talk as if Jack is alive, why?" Blake asked.

"You get attached to him after a while. Not to mention he's possibly one of the last JACK units from the war and he's the only one here. I'd rather be put in the hospital than have him scrapped and torn apart." He answered. Everyone nodded at that but some wondered why.

"So, Walker... how far is Sera ahead of Remnant as far as technology?" Weiss asked, genuinely curious.

"Hmm, that's tough. You all do have droids that can fight for you half the time and prosthetic limbs and shit but we literally have a fucking satellite laser than can annihilate an entire city in less than a minute, not to mention we have drill pods that can cut through rock like butter, and not to mention JACK. So we're probably about the same. Only thing I hate is that we don't have the technology Sera has, only this Silverback blueprint and JACK, but you already know how I am about him, and the weapons." He rubbed the bottom of his helmet.

"So Sera's more about destructive technology rather than helpful?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yep, a century of war will do that to your planet. Enough about Sera, I'm ready to enjoy the rest of my day off." He said.

"What about the recruits?" Yang asked.

"This was their final day of training. In two days I'm putting them through initiation, with the fact that you all have been helping they'll pass with flying colors." He said.

"So where will they go from here?" Velvet asked.

"For the next three months they'll be assigned to their respective kingdoms before being shipped off to the new base. Personally I'm excited to move out there, from then I'm actually able to expand on it." He answered. A message popped up on his scroll and he sighed when it was another mission but it required his current Gears.

"What's it about?" Jaune asked.

"A mission. Supposedly the mayor from Outer Haven spread word of our services and a high chairman wants us to bodyguard his representative." Walker replied.

"When do we leave?" Ren asked.

"She wants us there in the next two days. We leave tomorrow afternoon." Walker answered.

"Why not today?" Ruby asked.

"Are you kidding me? It's my late birthday, you better believe I'm going to enjoy it." He answered. She smiled along with everybody else before walking out of the room and turning off the light. They thought he was going to just squander his late birthday? They were wrong. The fact that all of them did something like this truly made them people he cared about, and he'd be damned if they died on his watch. They were his friends, his comrades... his family. And Gears don't let family down.

* * *

 **AN: I know I haven't updated over the entire summer and I have a good reason for that. College, and holy hell it's a lot different from high school, in a good way. If this chapter doesn't fit your needs then I'm sorry. I'm not here to please everyone so if you don't like the way the story is progressing then tough shit because this is the way I'm writing it. Now onto reviews.**

 **agentI3: Skorge is alive in this and to answer your question about RAAM? No, unfortunately. Not because it's stupid because he's the most badass locust out there but I wouldn't know how to input his character this far into the story.**

 **sebitor: Greatly appreciated, thank you.**

 **The Big Pickle: It's still there for slapping.**

 **Dariory: That a good thing or a bad thing?**

 **DigitalPh33r Fan: I have to admit you are right about them being badasses.**

 **Jkdelta38: Thank you, figured they'd have some publicity screen time.**

 **Disabled-doctor: Alright, I'll take that as a compliment.**

 **PoofyOhio: Thank you.**

 **mteran305: Sorry to burst your bubble but no. I feel that they should just enjoy those years of peace, not because I don't want to bring them in but also I wouldn't even think about disturbing their peace.**

 **Blaze1992: I understand that you both enjoy it and a little let down about it and I'll see if I can clear some things up for you. Yes I know he's been on Remnant for two years but they have no knowledge about him, other than he just showed up in the system one day. The weapons they can just reverse engineer, the armor they can base it off of him, but the vehicles? He doesn't have anything to give them. He has no way to show them how to build a King raven or an armadillo APC, and not to mention the only reason he let Remnant have the weapons from Sera is due to the locust being here. And before you ask why won't he let them have Jack? Just think, that bot has been with him since he was in the army and has grown attached to it, so just ask yourself if you had something you cherished, would you let anybody take it away from you? I'm not flaming you man, just answering your questions to the best of my ability and I hope you're satisfied. Oh, and the action between him and the girls? Sorry about that, I'm not to good on that type of field, not my best strong point but I'll try harder.**

 **Now that the reviews are over I think you all are wondering how JACK is here. I'll explain it later in the story so hold your horses and don't jump to your conclusions that I'm just adding shit in just to be adding it. That is all I have folks, so you remember the golden rule about reviews and the golden rule of Gears. Stay classy and I'll catch you all on the flip side. Take it easy.**


	18. Chapter 18: Problems arise

All of them woke up pretty early and decided to get ready for training but looked at the time and saw it was two hours beforehand. They could faintly hear yelling from Walker's room and peeked their heads out of the door before looking at one another. Each one of them cautiously stepped closer to his room and peeked inside to see him on his scroll while pacing around, his muscles were tense while his stance was stiff, indicating he was very stressed this early in the morning.

"What do you mean our truck has been hit? How in God's name did they even know about the fucking route? I specifically set it myself!" He shouted. They could faintly hear a panicked voice on the other end and saw him relax a bit before tensing up again, eventually he sighed in agitation and sat on his bed while his scroll was still near the side of his helmet.

"No, don't try to go after them because I need you back in Vale for another assignment. You seem to fail to realize no other weapon smugglers can pull this off which is why I need you here... Roman, I swear to God if you go after them I'll kill you if they don't." He said in a low voice that made even them shake. He hung up and looked up to barely see them at the door before sighing and gesturing them in, they retreated back to make themselves small but winced when he said something.

"If you all don't get your asses in here then I'm going to skin you myself." He threatened, making them gulp. They all managed to squeeze in his room and look at him while he just leaned forward and rubbed the top of his helmet.

"What's this about?" Blake asked.

"... Bandits managed to hit our truck. Normally I would give less than two shits but that truck had our VIP and countless other supplies, which was meant for the safe zone in Vale. No supplies means no payment, no payment means less weapons and other shit for us, less of that means soldiers will leave, and less soldier means we'll lose this war." He answered.

"So what needs to be done?" Jaune asked.

"We need to get our VIP and those supplies back, only problem is that they can't know we're coming. Not all of us can go." Walker answered.

"How many of us can go?" Pyrrha answered.

"..." He was silent for a minute.

"How many?" She asked again.

"Two. Two of us can go and get the supplies while the rest wait for us to return and support us when push comes to shove." He answered. All of them were silent for a couple of minutes. They've never dealt with other people before and he made it seem like they would have to kill the bandits to get the supplies and their target back. They weren't ready for that, they weren't ready to take a person's life and would rather stick with eliminating locust and Grimm. Not a single one raised their hand for the next several minutes before Jaune finally did something they never expected him to do.

"I'll go." He volunteered, making everyone look at him with widened eyes.

"Jaune, you can't be serious?!" Pyrrha voiced.

"Pyrrha, we need those supplies. If we don't get them then we're screwed. I don't want people who steal for their own good have the things others actually need. We're better than that." He said.

"But you're going to kill people! That's wrong!" Nora exclaimed.

"It was going to happen eventually, and I'd rather do it to bandits who steal from the weak than to anybody else." He argued. They could only stare at him differently, this wasn't the goofball that they all loved. This was someone who was going to commit a dark act to ensure good people survive and the bad ones leave this world. Everybody could see it in his eyes that he didn't want to do it but it needed to be done.

"Walker, please tell us there's another way. We can just talk to them and come to an agreement. They're people too!" Ruby said.

"You four know how I feel about bandits. You know better than anybody else how I feel about them especially after _that_ night." He countered. She clamped her mouth shut when she remembered seeing that heartbreaking video. In fact, all four of them didn't say a word since they knew better to say anything else. To see a boy's father die in front of him due to people, not locust, who would plunder other's settlements then kill his father in front of him. If he was going to do this then there was no stopping him.

"Are you sure you want to do this? This is not a road you can go back on." He said.

"I'm sure. The safe zone needs those supplies and we need the VIP there too, if this is a deed that needs to be done then I'll do it." Jaune nodded. Walker stared at him for a second before grabbing his knife and putting it on himself.

"We leave at nightfall. Remember, this isn't Grimm or locust. These are snakes that will lie to your face and stab you in the back when you're not looking." He said.

"I know, it was bound to happen eventually." Jaune sighed.

"Yeah, while Jaune and I are getting the truck and the VIP, I need you all to go to the safe zone and tell them of the situation." Walker ordered, looking at the rest of them.

"Yes, sir." They saluted in unison and exited the room with the exception of Jaune.

"Jaune, you knew we were going to kill them... didn't you?" Walker asked.

"I may not be a good huntsman but I'm a good soldier. And like you said when we first started, not everything we do is going to be heroic." He said.

"Glad you see it clearly. I'll discuss it with you and Ozpin later, but right now tell the others they have the day off for this mission." Walker said.

"Right, see you in his office Walker." Jaune said as he walked out of the room. It was silent before Walker stepped out of the room and began slamming his fist on each door of the recruits, waking them up and hearing them groan when they realized it was two hours before they were even supposed to be awake.

"Rise and shine! It's your last day of training and we're going through something special!" He shouted, making some of them widen their eyes. Usually when he said the word 'special' it meant hellish and it was something they all dreaded.

* * *

The day went by quickly, with Walker putting all of the recruits through their first mission of extermination and retrieval. It had gone quite smoothly in his opinion, though there was an injury with one of the recruits getting too cocky when he fought the locust and it end up almost costing his life, in fact the man was lucky to even be alive at this point and just suffered from a broken rib. Yet none of that mattered, well it did but it didn't, because he needed to get ready for the mission tonight. This wasn't going to be a night of clear and starry skies. The night had storm clouds rolling in and a storm warning was issued. Both Walker and Jaune were in the armory right now, them putting on their armor and getting their weapons ready. They couldn't wear their usual armor as to not blow their cover so instead they opted for a stealthier approach.

Walker was wearing a black long sleeve shirt with a kevlar vest with many pockets for his magazines and gadgets, multicam black combat pants with various pockets and kneepads for protection. His boots were the same color as everything else but it also had a holster for another knife should he need it. Instead of wearing his helmet he had to wear a ghost balaclava while a pair of glowing blue goggles that resembled Baird's. They were a little less advanced than his helmet but at least they helped him see in the dark.

Jaune had settled with the same look as Walker but instead of the balaclava, he had on a half mask and just let his mop of blonde hair flow free. He left Crocea Mors in his locker and settled with a Retro lancer and a snub pistol with a Gnasher on his back as well. Penny and Ruby had given them numerous grenades which included frag, smoke, flashbang, tear gas, and concussion. On their left forearms were tactical computers which was supplied to them from Atlas, it kept track of their status and gave the location of the area. He heard the sound of a chainsaw being tested and looked to his right to see Walker put it on his back before looking at him and reaching in a locker and handing him a knife.

"What's this? I already have a knife." He said.

"It's like mine. Made from the same materials as the locust cleaver, cuts through aura like a hot knife through butter. When push comes to shove, you'll need it." Walker said as he spun the knife around in his hand and waited for Jaune to take it. He stared at it for a few seconds before grabbing it and sheathing it in his holster on his shoulder before placing his half mask on his face.

"Ready?" Walker asked.

"No, but I don't have a choice do I?" Jaune asked.

"Afraid not. Let's just hope we make it in time." Walker said as he held his forearm diagonally. Jaune looked at it before smirking underneath his mask and bumping against it with his then walked out of the armory. The two of them walked for a while and ignored the rain that began to drizzle on their bodies before they eventually made it to the dropship where the others stood, waiting for the two. All of them sat down in their seats when the two entered and sat down, Walker next to Blake. They raised their eyebrows when they saw the two before widening their eyes when they realized one of them was Walker, needless to say the girls felt a little heat rise to their faces when they looked at them. Blake felt a little bit of drool come from her mouth before she gulped before letting her composure come back all while having a pink tint to her face, Pyrrha also.

"The mission is simple, you all will get the council notified, even if it takes all night while Jaune and I will secure the VIP and supplies. You will meet us fifteen miles from the camp then we'll extract when we set the beacons down. I know you all won't fuck around but I'm reminding you again, this isn't some extermination; it's a rescue and retrieval mission." Walker informed.

"Should we not make it in time back with the VIP or supplies then inform the council of what happened, we'll sort this mess out." Jaune said. Everybody looked at him and noticed how straight his posture was and the tone of his voice, it was no longer the goofball knight but that of a soldier who was ready to get the mission done at any cost, it frightened a few of them personally. They turned to Ash when he spoke up.

"I can't hover like I usually do, so you'll need to jump when you're above the mark." He said. They looked at them and saw their shoulder slump before Walker stood up and went over to a storage container and pulled out two parachutes, tossing one to Jaune and putting the other one on himself.

"We're parachuting?" He asked.

"I don't have an aura and we're moving at high speeds. Worst case scenario we get caught in a tree and cut our way out but it's all we can do now." Walker answered, clamping the final strap together. Jaune nodded and put it on before sitting down next to his team, who sent him worried glances while he gave a thumbs up.

Thirty minutes passed by and they all sat in silence before Ash told them that they were closing in on the drop off point, opening the doors from where he was at. Wind entered the vehicle and everyone's hair was blowing towards the exit. They watched as the two stood up and carefully walked towards the opening, throwing a thumbs up at them before running towards the exit and jumping out with their arms spread wide. The doors closed slowly and they leaned back in their seats in silence for the next several minutes before Sun spoke up.

"Okay, I'll admit. That was by far the most badass thing I've seen from them." He said, earning some laughs and agreements from the others.

* * *

The two of them plummeted down to the ground at high speeds while enjoying the free fall a bit. Two minutes passed by and they eventually came at an even level with one another and glanced at each other before looking back at the approaching ground. Walker pointed towards the camp in the distance and Jaune turned his head to it before both of them veered their bodies and started to nose dive to gain more speed. Once they felt they were close enough they pulled the strings on their chutes and their bodies jerked back as their chutes opened and they started to slow down. A few more minutes passed by with them in the air before they approached the treeline and disappeared in it. They fell through it and tried to avoid the branches but got stuck the closer they got to the ground and were suspended in them. Walker cut his straps and fell before rolling on the ground to break his fall before coming to a crouch and aiming his weapon while Jaune caught on some branches and had to cut himself loose also. Instead of rolling, he just let his aura take the brunt of the damage and stood up while aiming in the opposite direction of Walker.

"You good?" He asked.

"Yeah, you?" Jaune asked back.

"Never better." Walker said back.

"Heh, well let's get this done." Jaune said before he followed Walker to the direction of the camp. The rain started to come down more harshly and pelt their bodies with fury the longer they trekked. Their weapons were aimed ahead and they glanced around every so often for any Grimm, they were outside the walls and it was considered no man's land out here. For the next next forty minutes they trekked through the storm and the wild. There was a ping on the TACPAD and they both looked down to see a green dot on the screen and looked at each other. Walker made the gesture to move forward and Jaune nodded before both slid down the side of the cliff and rolled onto the ground silently. Thunder cackled in the sky and dampened the sound of their feet, their footsteps were washed away in the mud as they hid in the brush. They could see a guard tower with a single man panning the spotlight slowly, both of them could see he was tired and waited a minute before he slumped down on his chair and fell asleep. Using this opportunity to move up, they came across a chain link fence and Walker pulled out some fencing pliers before snipping away at it for the next minute; eventually he made a little hole for them to crawl through. Once both of them were through they climbed up to the guard tower and Jaune could only slightly recoil when Walker plunged his knife in the man's trachea and held his mouth to prevent any noise from coming out. Ten seconds of struggling went by before he stopped moving and blood pooled around him slowly then he fell to the side with a thump when the knife was removed.

"It's ugly now but you get used to it." He said. Jaune could only nod then send the body one last glance before sliding down the ladder and taking cover behind a darkened tent. They heard the small ping and looked down to see that they were getting close to the target and looked ahead to a darkened part of the camp to see the VIP sitting there with soaking and torn clothes. They were ripped in various places and her eyes were glassed over while bruises adorned her figure, something was wrong and both could tell.

"Walker, you notice something about our target?" Jaune asked as he looked ahead with his binoculars before putting them down and turning to his comrade.

"If I think they did what they did... then they're all going to die." He seethed silently.

"You don't think they..." Jaune trailed off. He saw Walker give him a look that wanted him to put two and two together, but when he did... something new awoke in Jaune Arc that night, something to be feared for years to come.

"They did. Seen that look too many times." Walker muttered.

"They need to be eliminated." Jaune said darkly, surprising his friend. He didn't expect Jaune to go to the dark so quickly, it unnerved him but he knew it was going to happen eventually, war always does this to people because it did it to him.

"Agreed. As much as I want to slaughter each one of them right now, we came here to get her and the supplies out. As of now, all hostiles are to be exterminated with lethal force." Walker said. That was all Jaune needed to hear before both slipped into the tent, slitting the throats of all the occupants as they slept, never making a sound while doing so. They crept out of the tent and left six bandits dead in their cots with their throats slit, leaving them to bleed dry. Both quickly sneaked through the camp and remained in the shadows, almost getting spotted had they not dove into another tent and killed its occupants. What should have taken twenty minutes stretched into an hour as they killed every bandit in the dark tents. The rain continued to downpour on them and the camp before they made their way to the illuminated areas and stopped; unlike the dark areas, these were a bit harder to tackle and required a plan. An idea popped in Walker's head and he took a bullet casing and flicked it in the dark area, listening to it bounce off a pole and make a sharp ringing noise. The bandit heard it and stood up from her chair and flicked the cigarette away before heading over, she noticed how dark it was and brought out her flashlight, aiming it at the spot where she heard the noise. She looked down at the casing and bent down to pick it up.

"What the hell?" She muttered before widening her eyes when she felt a serrated combat knife slide against her throat and a hand cover her mouth. She tried to let out a muffled scream but nobody could hear her due to the hand and the storm blocking any noise. Thirty seconds passed by and she began to feel tired, ten more passed and she was dead on the ground. Walker slid the body down before placing both hands on her head and giving a savage twist, effectively snapping her neck. Nash taught him that. Never leave a job half assed or it'll bite your's. He heard a sharp, quiet whistle and turned to see Jaune beckon him over, to which he did quickly.

"We should get the VIP." He whispered.

"Alright, you stand guard while I pick the lock." Walker whispered.

"Why can't I do it?" Jaune asked back.

"You can't tie your shoes in the morning, Jaune. How the hell are you going to pick a lock?" Walker asked before making his way over to the cage.

"Oh fuck you!" Jaune whisper shouted, a middle finger was what he got in response before he quickly followed Walker to the cage where the VIP was at. Her eyes were glassed over and she shook every once in a while.

"Psst." Walker whispered, but saw she didn't even look at him. He gave a low whistle and noticed she still didn't notice him, so he tried something else. He threw a pebble at her head and noticed she looked up at him then scrambled back when she saw him.

"Hey, hey, hey. I'm not going to hurt you, we're here to get you out." He said while setting the lancer down slowly.

"How do I know you're not one of them?" She asked while backing up a little more.

"We know that you were on your way to Vale with supplies and were ambushed by bandits. We know that the driver was killed and we know that you'll be killed if you don't come with us." He listed.

"How should I trust you? For all I know you could be one of them in disguise." She accused.

"Because we're not the ones who are currently standing in the rain while scratching our asses. He may but I don't." He jabbed towards Jaune, who didn't look but stuck the middle finger up but you could faintly see his shoulders bouncing in laughter. She didn't seem convinced until she saw Walker start to lock pick the cage, it took a minute but he eventually got it and opened it slowly with a creak.

"Representative Michelle... we can't get you and the supplies out of here if you don't move." He said while holding his hand out. She looked at it for a second before hesitantly taking it. Her legs wobbled and she fell forward but Walker caught her and picked up his lancer before throwing her over his shoulders in a fireman carrying position. All they needed was the truck but the only problem is that it was being unloaded by bandits and it a well lit area. This was a problem because they needed those supplies and these bandits were too dangerous to live if they were targeting supply trucks meant for civilians. They were at a predicament until they saw another truck roll in and quickly took cover behind one of the tents full of dead occupants. It was an infantry transport truck but instead of soldiers in the back it was full of victims of bandit attacks, each one having a depressed expression. The truck suddenly stopped when the headlights caught sight of Michelle's missing figure from the cage and the bandit in the passenger's seat quickly got out. The hostages whimpered and the passenger bandit quickly went up to the back and slammed his gun on the side, scaring them and aiming it at them. He loved these new guns that could bite through aura, it made raiding all the better.

"Shut up! Before I do what I did to your precious leader!" He shouted, making them all quiet down. He smirked at shouted at the driver while still staring at them. "Hey, Mick! You sure we can't kill them!?" He asked. Silence was what he got in response so he repeated his question, looking to the driver's side only to see the door swaying gently and its occupant gone. He took the safety off and aimed it at the spot where his buddy was at. Whispers from the hostages made him angry and he rounded the corner of the truck to give them a piece of his mind, only to come face to face with a pair of blue goggles and a ghost balaclava with sharp teeth.

"Hello there, mate! Fancy night we're having!" Walker said with a deep kashkur accent before plunging his knife into the bandit's eyes and pulling it out then grabbing his neck and twisting it at an unnatural angle with a loud crack. He grabbed the body's legs and dragged it into the shadows before returning with the VIP and helping her in the truck. She looked at him and noticed he had his weapon at the ready then turned to the rest of them.

"We're clearing the rest of these fuckers out. Stay here and wait for my comrade to cut the lights, you hear screaming or bodies dropping then you stay here... clear?" He asked all of them. They nodded shakily and he stood at the ready before they jumped when the power suddenly cut off. They turned to one another and began whispering before turning back to the spot Walker was at and noticed he was gone without a sound. Very faintly they could hear throats being slit, necks snapped, bodies dropping, and pleading of someone before a loud crack. They heard more screaming and another crack with more agonized screaming before it was cut short with a single gunshot that echoed throughout the entire camp. Grunting could be heard and they could barely see Walker and Jaune hefting a heavy box and load it into the truck with the occupants before going back and getting another one. For the next several minutes they continued this process and saw it was packed to the brim before leaving for half an hour then both of them climbed in and strapped the boxes down. Jaune lifted the door up and closed it while having his rifle aimed out the back while Walker got in the driver's seat and started up the truck with a loud roar then drive out. There were only seven hostages in here, everybody else must have been killed by the raid. Jaune finally felt sick to his stomach when he looked back at the retreating camp and could barely see one of the bodies they hid, something came over him and it made him both scared and sick to his stomach. He would have to ask Walker how to deal with it later because right now, he needed sleep.

* * *

The moment they finished the exchange with the VIP, hostages, and supplies both Jaune and Walker were tired and wanted sleep but didn't get any due to the fact that everybody was asking them questions. Jaune with his team asking if he was alright and did he do anything that he regretted and Walker with the girls pestering him to relax. Both of them were out like a light the moment they reached their rooms and didn't even bother changing into anything else, just fell asleep without a care in the world. Everyone just let them sleep and did their activities but would always send worried glances at the hallway then turn their attention back to the things they were doing. A loud groan made them look to see Walker shuffle out of his room while fastening his helmet and muttering things under his breath. He grabbed a something out of the fridge and set it on the counter with a dull clank before resting his head in his arms.

"Walker... are you okay?" Blake asked.

"Yep..." He sounded tired, stressed even.

"You sure?" She asked.

"Positive." He sighed before turning away from them and setting his head down again. All of them sent worried glances at each other and sighed before going back to what they were doing. It was clear he wasn't in the talking mood and they decided not to press if he didn't want to, usually it ended up in him losing his temper and shutting himself off. Two hours passed by before they decided to leave to dorm house and explore the campus a bit while Blake just remained there. He knew it was her because he could faintly smell her Wisteria perfume.

"I'm not going to make you talk if you don't want to." She said as she pulled up a seat next to him at the counter.

"Then why are you here?" He asked.

"No reason." She answered.

"There's always a reason." He countered.

"That's what you think." She said. It was silent for the next few minutes before he finally lifted his head and opened the bottle, drinking half its contents before setting it down and rubbing his face. She already knew he killed people on that mission, she could smell the blood on him and Jaune's knives and hands. Jaune seemed haunted by it when he finally realized what he did while Walker just went about it like he usually does, stressed but eventually fine about it.

"I know you smelled the blood on my knife." He said out of the blue.

"That is true." She nodded.

"And you're fine with it?" He asked.

"As dark as it sounds, they deserved it. I usually don't condone killing but they were people who picked on the weak to satisfy their greedy needs and from the way the representative looked, they did more than kidnap her." She said.

"They beat her and killed her escort. People like that don't deserve mercy, they deserve judgement and I delivered it." He said.

"Did you regret it?" She asked, staring at him intently. She wanted to see if he was like _him_.

"...No." He sighed making her heart drop a bit then drop. His eyes caught sight of that look she gave him when she didn't approve of something. "I know you're comparing me to Adam, and I'm here to say stop." He said.

"I wasn't-" She began.

"I can deal with the looks, I can deal with the comments, but I can't deal with lies. So I'm going to stop you before you try to come up with an excuse." He said as the emotion in his voice started to drip away, making her scoot back a bit.

"Walker, Adam was like that before he started going down a dark path." She said.

"Because he was a fool for thinking violence would unite people. He's angry that he got the short end of the straw and decides to take his anger out on people that don't deserve it. He's basically a little kid throwing a temper tantrum." He said.

"He was good before that though." She said.

"Doubt that but okay." He laughed, making her frown. Something was wrong with him today, his hands were constantly in fists, his attitude was more harsh, and he's laughing at serious things.

"What is wrong with you today?" She finally asked.

"You want to know what's wrong with me? You actually want to know?" He said, leaning closer to her than what she would like. "I'm fucking stressed. Jaune and I killed damn near forty bandits in that camp, I haven't slept good in three weeks, I'm constantly being thrown into situations that I shouldn't even be able to worry about, We don't know where in God's name we're being deployed next, the locust managed to take over Vacuo last week before we could even do anything about it, and finally Skorge is the one who's leading this attack." He answered.

She forgot about that. The fact that Skorge was here, the one who finally stuck the straw in the camel's back on Walker's sanity, and he was the one who was leading the war.

"So tell me Blake... am I like Adam?" He asked shifting in that voice that she dreaded to hear. This wasn't the guy that she enjoyed being around constantly, who could lift her spirits with his dry humor or make her feel better when a mission went south. This was a thing that made her scared of the same person that she enjoyed being around. It was a being of complete malevolence, anger, and insanity that enjoyed the sight of blood more than anything. No words came out of her mouth as she stared at the glowing yellow helmet lights and all she could let out were tiny squeaks.

"Adam is nothing but a boy who is angry. He's a fiend, a simple minded man who will kill because he doesn't get his way. I would happily throw him to the wretches if it meant saving all but a single man. And should he threaten me... I'll give him a 'session' worse than the ones Skorge gave me." He snarled. She jumped when the bottle on the counter suddenly shattered in his grip and the glass embedded into his hand but he gave no reaction as the blood slowly started to seep from the spaces between his fingers.

"Walker... calm down. You're bleeding." She pointed.

"I'm fine. You never answered my question though. Am... I... like... Adam?" He asked while tilting his head, it started making a cracking noise the more he tilted it until it was to the point where it was unnatural.

"No..." She squeaked out. His lights turned back to their blue color and his body slumped down before falling forward into the counter then onto the ground. It was silent for a minute before she finally snapped out of her trance and knelt by his side, his breathing was normal and his muscles were relaxed but she could tell he wasn't alright. A sound made her look to her right and saw Jaune shuffling into the kitchen while rubbing his eyes.

"What happened?" He yawned.

"He lost his temper." She said quickly. He merely nodded then grabbed Walker's shoulders and hefted him up, Blake on the other one as they dragged him to his room. On the way there, she noticed something different about Jaune, his eyes were glazed over while his muscles were tense also. After a minute of dragging they reached his room and set him down on the bed.

"He needs someone to talk to, you know." He said to her.

"What do you mean? I've been trying to talk to him. He just keeps pushing me away." She said.

"You're pushing him. It may seem like you're trying to help but in reality you're pestering him about his problems." He countered.

"No I'm not. He's just being stubborn and won't tell me." She said.

"Or you're being too direct and practically demanding him to spit out things he's not comfortable with." He said in a flat voice.

"How would you know?" She asked with narrowed eyes.

"He told me when we were going to the camp. He said, "I know Blake means well, but she doesn't seem to realize her always trying to get me to talk about my problems isn't going to make me want her help." but he also said you're not worrying about your problems and rather his." He answered.

"That's-" She began but to her surprise, Jaune actually interrupted her.

"True? Because it is, Blake. I may not seem like I'm paying attention but I am. You're constant nagging him to discuss his problems is beginning to wear him down yet you know how he is about it." He said. She tried to think of something but just kept her mouth shut and processed what he said, she did seem kind of like a nag at this point.

"What am I supposed to do?" She asked.

"Let him run at his own pace. Us guys aren't always going to want to discuss what's at the top of our heads so just let him be for now." He shrugged.

"...I guess you're right." She sighed and he nodded before beginning to walk out of the room but stopped when she said something.

"Do you mind telling me what happened at that camp?" She asked and saw that his body seized up a bit before relaxing again.

"The horrors of war." He said then walked out of the room, leaving the two alone.

* * *

A couple of hours had passed by before he woke up in his dark room. He swung his legs around his the bed, only to meet some resistance and looked to see Blake sitting on his bed with a book in her hand. She had her head down and it looked like she was sleeping, making him sigh and gently swing her body around so that it was on his pillow before he put her underneath his blankets. Her hair was covering her face and he moved it behind her ear then patted her shoulder. The book was set on his desk and he turned to look at her when she shuffled around in the bed before coming to a comfortable position. His scroll vibrated a couple of times and he opened it to see several missed calls from the staff then sent them a message saying he had an episode and wished for some alone time, to his surprise they agreed. He then walked out of his room and noticed nobody had returned back and saw that the bloody pieces of glass were still on the ground and proceeded to clean it up. It took ten minutes but he eventually did it and found himself completely bored. Jaune had left a note explaining that he and his team were going to Vale with a few others while some of the others stayed on campus and just helped out. The girls were still out and about which left him and Blake alone in the dorm house.

A movie sounded nice but there was no one to watch it with, which made it less enjoyable. Cleaning was an option but everything was practically germ free with how much they all clean. Missions was off the table for now since he just got off one, so that left the only thing he could do. Sit there and hope something came his way. For the first time in the last five years, he had absolutely no idea as what to do right now. He was so used to something always popping up that required his attention but now? There wasn't anything, which made it worse since he considered himself an workaholic. He knew how to relax but it was often so short he had grown used to it, so long periods of doing something productive often both calmed him and stressed him. Shrugging his shoulders, he went back to his room and turned on his TV before sitting on the floor in front of his bed, he turned the volume down a bit and just flipped through random channels until he found something that suited him. Twenty minutes of channel surfing later, he found a movie that peaked his interest. Forty minutes into the movie and he heard shuffling behind him before he felt her body slump down on the ground next to him and her head against his shoulder. It was silent while they watched the movie until it finished and another one started playing.

"I'm sorry." She apologized.

"For what?" He asked as he adjusted the volume.

"For being a nag about your problems." She answered.

"All is forgiven." He shifted a bit before getting comfortable again. It was clear he didn't forgive her about that but she wouldn't dwell on it, it wasn't like he was telling her to fuck off, Oum no, but he made it very clear he wasn't interested in discussing his problems. All they could do now was watch the movies that were on the TV until something came up, something she was comfortable with. It must have been two movies in did the rest of the girls come in the room and saw them staring at the TV before shrugging and joining them. Sometime during the marathon Yang grabbed his blanket and draped it over the five of them. Ruby didn't care and just sat on his lap while leaning back into his chest while the other three huddled as close as they could to him. The marathon continued and they continued to watch the spree of movies before he paused it when Ruby got up and got them all snacks before claiming her place once again. They checked the time to see it was almost midnight and they shrugged once again before continuing to watch the movies. The last movie was a horror one that actually scared the four of them with the exception of him, he had seen scarier shit, but some scenes did surprise him and catch his interest. Another hour had passed and he saw the girls fast asleep, all of them snoring and he shook his head before shifting from underneath them. It was clear they weren't leaving his room tonight and opted to just grabbing their sheets and making a makeshift bed for them to snooze on.

The hallways were empty when he entered them and then the girls' room, seeing their usual stuff but had some additions such as things he got for them or they made together. Grabbing their pillows and blankets before returning back to the room he then shifted their bodies around without waking them and began to make the makeshift bed. A few minutes of making it and he started to move them from one end to the other, it took longer since Ruby clung onto him and wouldn't let go but eventually did after ten minutes. He wasn't tired after passing out from his outburst and merely walked to his laptop and started typing on it. There was an email from the council thanking him for getting the representative back safely and he merely retorted it was his job and that, that mission was to be kept in secret then left it at that. After checking everything to see there was nothing new popping up, his mind just went blank for a second. Now there was truly nothing to do. All the movies had been watched for the night, the girls and everybody else were asleep, no missions were popping up, and the locust haven't attacked any settlements as of right now. They couldn't step foot in Vacuo because one, they didn't have the manpower, and two... nothing could be saved when half the kingdom was a desert anyways.

A sigh escaped his lips for the hundredth time today and a flash drive caught his eye, he slowly grabbed it and started to observe it before plugging it in the side of the laptop. He saw the familiar COG loading screen spin quickly then a gallery of videos and photos of himself, his family, and his team. It was everything that was recorded and saved before it was sunk with Jacinto, he had saved a lot of it in his helmet in case he wanted to look at it again. His hands clicked the side of his helmet and the compressed air let out with a sharp hiss, it was slowly removed from his head and set against the desk with clank; he rubbed the top of his trimmed head and rubbed his face to feel a five o clock shadow start to appear. Granted, it had been a while since he's actually shaved his face and felt the need to do so one of these days. The first thing that was clicked on was a video of him, his mom, and his dad when he was beginning to learn how to crawl. That lasted about five minutes before he went to the next one and saw it was him sneaking on the fridge and into the candy jar then his father catching him and beginning to scold him. He laughed at the part where he tried to bribe his father with some candy if he promised not to tell his mother. How he got away with that still bewildered him to this day. More surfing through pictures and videos and he finally felt good enough to fall asleep.

Just as he was about to go into his bed and fall asleep, he heard a notification on his laptop and looked to see it was a message from the council.

 _"Instead of hosting a meeting Saturday we will give a public speech to try and rally the people. Due to the unforeseen attack on Vacuo, the council of all kingdoms has considered it lost as most of the armed forces and huntsman and huntresses have perished. We would have notified you sooner but we did not wish to have you or your Gears perish in a kingdom that is under locust control. Now, onto the request at hand. It would be in our honor if your Gears would act as security for when we give this speech. Recent White Fang raids are concerning us and we do not wish to be attacked on that day. In terms of payment, we will request the helmets from Atlas should you accept this offer."_ The message read.

"I'm already receiving the helmets. So why- you know what? No, I'll just tell them to give us funds or do something else tomorrow." He shook his head. His door was left open and he put his helmet back on his head before going over to the bed and falling asleep.

* * *

"Nora!" That was the first thing he heard when he woke up. The sound of Ren's agitated voice then a loud crash which already put him in a sour mood. He could hear more shouting, excited giggling, and another crash which made him cuss and stumble out of his room. As he walked in the hall he could smell burning and eventually came to the end where he saw Nora giggling madly on the sofa while Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren were trying to put out a fire on the stove. Pancake batter, sugar, flower, syrup, and other condiments stuck to the walls and floor. The four had yet to notice him and continued to do their own thing for the next few minutes. Once the fire was out, the three noticed him while Nora was still giggling on the sofa. They all gulped when they saw him gaze around the kitchen then curl his fists. He was not happy in the slightest. He jabbed a thumb over to Nora and they all nodded and sighed before watching him go over to the sofa and stare at her with arms crossed.

"Hey, Ren! You think that he'll-" Her smile fell the moment she looked over the couch and came face to face with his glowing blue gaze, she looked up at him nervously before crying out in pain when he pinched her ear and led her off the sofa.

"Ow,ow,ow,ow,ow,ow! Ear!" She cried as he dragged her over to the others then shoved her to them. She rubbed her now red ear and tried to hide behind partner.

"He's not saving you. Now, I'm going to ask this once and you all had better not give me a shit answer. What the fuck happened?" He asked in a flat voice. All of them gulped nervously and began saying their answer all at once in a jumbled mess of words, each one getting louder as they tried to say their answer first. If Walker's helmet was off he would shatter the bridge of his nose if he was pinching it, this was not a good morning and he could tell. First he wakes up pissed, second he finds out his laptop and scroll were dead, and third Nora had exploded the fucking kitchen. Their jumbled answers eventually annoyed him until he had enough.

"ZIP IT!" He shouted, making their mouths clamp shut as he glared at them. "I DON'T CARE! I DON'T GIVE A RAT'S ASS ANYMORE! JUST GET THIS PLACE CLEANED UP BY THE TIME I GET BACK OR I'M HAVING ALL YOUR ASSES ON A PIKE! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!?" He bellowed. They nodded quickly as he stared at the kitchen before walking out the door and slamming it shut. Each step he took was threatening to crack the pavement with how hard he was stomping. Everyone who got in his way cleared out when they felt the agitated aura that seemed to roll off his shoulders. Somehow, he found himself inside the academy just wondering the halls in silence and slightly enjoyed it until the bell rung and students poured out, some of them not looking his way and bumping into him. Others noticed him and pointed in his direction but he ignored them and continued to explore the campus. For a couple minutes he was followed by a group of first years who claimed to be his biggest fans and was repeatedly asked questions if they could join the Gears. The group seemed to grow larger until it was around three teams of first years following him and asking their questions. A lot of them seemed to just be turning seventeen or sixteen and their eyes so full of hope to save the world. Some of them asked if they could be Gears and if their connections would work to get them that position.

"You twelve do realize connections has nothing to do with being a Gear?" He deadpanned.

"What? I thought if you knew somebody then you could get in?" A student asked.

"What? That's fucking retarded. Just because you know somebody doesn't automatically get you in the position of a Gear. You go through a test, spend almost three months in hellish training, spend another three in your respective kingdom doing service, then report to the base. Sound like fun?" He asked.

"Eh... a little." One of them shrugged.

"You kids are hopeless." He commented. One girl looked offended by that.

"How so?" She asked while crossing her arms.

"Being a Gear isn't like being a huntsman. You don't get to choose what missions you go on, you're not always going to kill Grimm, and to top it all of you're fighting locust. Not to mention when you're training overall you can't talk to your families until it's over and even after that there's a possibility you might die in action. So is it still fun to you?" He asked again. It was silent for a minute before they shrugged and slightly nodded their heads.

"... Kinda?" One of them said in an unsure voice making him scowl.

"Don't you all have class? And judging by the looks of you're attire you have Goodwitch." He pointed.

"So?" A girl asked.

"Goodwitch's class started five minutes ago." He merely said. All of their eyes bulged out before they began sprinting towards her class. Deciding not to go back to the dorm house or even talk to anybody else, he made his way to her class and entered it without a word, some of the first years widened their eyes while the other three years raised their eyebrows when the famed Walker Ronin, commander of the elite task-force known as Gears, just entered the without a word and sat in her desk.

"Walker, what are you doing here?" Glynda asked.

"Sitting." He answered as he set his head in his arms.

"I can see that but why?" She asked.

"Everyone's pissing me off, my scroll and laptop are dead, Nora blew up the fucking kitchen, and to top it all next I have nothing to do." He answered nonchalantly. The students' eyes widened when he cursed in front of Goodwitch and she didn't even seem bothered by it, some of them were whispering how lucky he was that she didn't even scold him.

"Are you going to offer some input since you've decided to interrupt my class?" She crossed her arms.

"Don't have much of a choice." He sighed and leaned back in her chair before gesturing them to continue. She turned her head and sighed before pulling up the screen. It spun for a few seconds before two second years stepped down and got their stuff. Five minutes later they were in their combat gear and had their weapons drawn, both stood ten feet from one another then got in their battle stance. She shouted for them to begin and he could only watch in boredom as the two recklessly charged each other. Neither of them went on the defensive and just decided to tank their hits rather than actually try to block or parry them. The whole thing lasted three minutes before the taller second year came out on top when he managed to get a lucky strike. Everyone heard clapping and turned to see Walker clap slowly before stopping and staring at them.

"Care to share your input?" She asked.

"Yeah, did either of you try to go on the defensive?" He asked.

"No, not really. I'd rather just get the battle over with quickly before my opponent can get the chance to put me on it." The victor claimed.

"I see... then you're going to die should you go against an opponent that has some experience underneath their belt." He said flatly.

"Walker!" Glynda exclaimed.

"No, no. Hear me out. You all do realize that not every opponent is going to be inexperienced? Some of them have killed huntsmen before and learn how to stay alive for all these years. Sometimes you need to go on the defensive for a while to expose their weakness then strike, you can't do that if you just rush in. Actions like that get you killed or worse." He said in the same tone. Only a couple of people listened to what he actually said and considered it but the rest let their pride go to their head and denied it. The class went into an uproar for a minute while shouting things at him but was later silenced when Glynda shouted.

"While I agree with him, you all should have a healthy balance between both defense and offence, I don't appreciate the way you delivered it." She said, turning to him.

"You wanted my input, I gave it to you. Brutally honest and straight to the point. This isn't like how things were in the past. This isn't just about Grimm and the White Fang, this is about both of those threats and the locust. Only difference between those two and the locust, locust won't kill you quickly. They'll mutilate your body before killing you or they'll just outright eat you alive, which is not a pretty way to go." He said, making a few of them shake. Glynda frowned when she looked at him and noticed how stressed he seemed today and opted to just send him out of the class but a team wanted to fight him.

"Children, no. He's not in the mood and he's skills are far beyond yours." She said.

"No, it's fine. I haven't had a actual fight where I'm directly confronting somebody. This can go either way, I break them in half or they do. After all, pain is a routine at this point." He said as he stood up and took his knife off, setting it on the desk then standing in the middle. He watched as the team sent him taunts and went to go retrieve their gear while he just took off his jacket and tossed it to the side. A lot of the first years gaped at how fit he was and took pictures of him while some of the second years started to record on their scrolls. Five minutes passed and the team emerged with their battle gear and weapons. One of them had a set of daggers, another had a sword that was encased in ice, the third had two pistols, and the fourth had a war hammer.

"Children, keep in mind he doesn't have an aura. So if he's down then you stop." Glynda said.

"In other words, if you try to kick me while I'm down I'll sever your spinal column and gut you like a pig." He shrugged, not flinching when Glynda turned her gaze to him. She shook her head before counting down and shouted that they could begin. The one with the war hammer quickly rushed at him and delivered three quick swipes but snarled when he dodged all three of them. He spun out of the way when an over head strike and watched as the weapon slammed into the ground. Spinning his body back around, he bent his leg in then sent it out quickly into the wielder's face, striking him in the face and watching as he was sent flying back. The one with the sword and the other one with the daggers rushed at him then crossed one another and swiped at him at an angle. He saw the space between and maneuvered his body and dove in between them and stood up once he was behind them then sent his elbows into their backs, sending them sprawling to the ground. The pistol wielder aimed both her guns at him and started firing but frowned when he merely kept diving to the side or use one of her teammates as a hostage. Years of dodging bullets taught him to always anticipate where the gun was aimed because the bullet would quickly follow.

There was a war cry and he turned to see the hammer wielder lunge at him and tackle him to the ground before trying to bash his head in with his fist. He cried out in pain when Walker slammed both his hands on his ears and made them ring loudly before delivering an open palm to his nose. He stood up and rushed up to the boy before jumping up in the air and missile dropkick him into the wall. The sound of a sword swishing through the air made him duck underneath the swipe and dodge several more blows before spinning out of the way of a jab and elbowing the user in the back of his head the spinning counter clockwise and kicking him in the face. He grabbed the sword and parried the dagger user's weapons before flipping the blade up in the air and catching it before slamming the handle on the top of her head, making her eyes roll for a second before crying out in pain when a straight was sent to her nose. The pistol girl aimed both guns at and started firing, only for her eyes to widen when he picked up the dagger girl and used her as a human shield. He started to run towards her with the girl in his arms before tossing her at her teammate and using the opportunity to tackle the pistol girl in the wall. She managed to dodge numerous punches and kicked him away before quickly reloading and firing at him again. A thin line of a smile was on his face, he was enjoying this too much, much more than he should.

"Stay still!" She bellowed.

"Nah, don't feel like being shot." He retorted. Her eyes widened in fury before she threw both her guns away and brought out a combat knife, making him perk up.

"Heh, a knife fight? Now this is interesting." He chuckled as he went over to the desk and picked up his combat knife. He flipped it in a reverse grip and spread his legs apart while having one hand at the ready. The student did the same and the two of them stood still for a minute. Silence reigned over the classroom and everyone leaned forward in anticipation. Both of them suddenly charged and swiped their knives at the same time, making a loud ringing noise and sparks fly when they made contact. In the span of two minutes both of them had fought endlessly with a series of parries, slashes, swipes, and jabs. Both came to a deadlock when they locked blades and stared at one another.

"What's wrong? Getting tired?" She smirked then winced when a sudden force forced her down to her knees.

"Kid, I've killed grubs stronger than you. Compared to them, you're a walk in the park." He retorted before his fist connected to her face, stunning her. Her eyes widened when he gripped her shirt and kicked her shin before throwing him over his shoulder. She tried to get up but felt his knee on her back and his hand grip her hair and force her head up, his knife was placed on her throat and she struggled a bit but winced when she felt his knife dig in her throat.

"Wouldn't move. This knife has claimed more lives than you can imagine, it ignores aura so you add another body to it?" He asked. She looked ahead and saw her team on the ground in pain or unconscious, her eyes trailed up to the board and saw all their auras were either in the red or very close to it.

"Fine, I give!" She shouted. Her forehead thumped against the ground when he suddenly let go and put the knife away. As he was walking away he suddenly felt a pain in his right shoulder blade and slowly turned around to see the dagger wielder have her arm extended, everybody in the crowd gasped at that then winced when he slowly pulled the blade out and flipped it a couple of times while blood just flicked off of it.

"My turn." He said darkly and threw his knife at her face. Had Glynda not intervened, the girl would be put in the morgue with a massive combat knife embedded in her face. Even she had to use some concentration to stop the knife and breathed in relief when it was merely an inch away. The girl on the other hand widened her eyes as she stared at the giant blade.

"H-holy shit. He was actually going to do it." She whispered fearfully.

"Why did you stop it?" He asked flatly.

"Are you out of your mind?! You could have killed her!" Glynda shouted.

"That was kind of the plan. I don't see you getting on her for throwing a fucking seven inch dagger in my back." He countered.

"I was going to punish her but had to stop your knife from making its way into her skull." She seethed.

"Whatever, I'm going to go get this patched up." He said as he walked towards his knife and went to go get it but found it still encased in the purple aura. "You going to let go of it?" He asked.

"No, I'm bringing it to Ozpin's office and you can retrieve it later." She said, using her semblance to levitate it into her hands, making him scowl. At this point everyone stopped recording, in fact that had done so when the fight ended.

"You're really playing the elementary school bullshit card?" He asked while curling his fists.

"Yes, now if you would kindly leave." She gestured as 'nicely' as she could without blowing a gasket. Something was up with him today and she almost didn't want to find out, he seemed extra murderous today and that raised some concerns. He looked at her and chuckled before walking towards the door, but not before sending one last message that sent chills down the student body's spines.

"Keep doing what they did. Keep coming to this place with that arrogant, narcissistic attitude and see how far that gets you in life. You're lucky she was here or I would have butchered your bodies and strung you up by your entrails outside the school." He said then slammed the door shut, the glass on the door cracked and they could faintly hear curses being thrown. A lot of them were stunned into silence and a new fear of him made them weary to even look in his direction. They had seen how he was around his Gears and how he was now, they didn't think they wanted to be near him at all.

Glynda was worried internally. Usually he is nice and supportive of the students which made him an idol among the student body but now she could see that they would both fear and respect him as of today. Her eyes trailed down to the knife on her desk and her mind went back to what he said about taking lives with it and how many he had taken overall.

"You have some explaining to do, young lady." She said as shadows covered her eyes. The student gulped when she saw her teacher's gaze.

* * *

It was Saturday morning and everyone was getting ready. They were told the other day that they were acting as security for the council as they gave a speech to rally the people in helping fight the locust and other threats while trying to unite them. After ten minutes of getting ready they were heading towards the bullhead and entered it to notice that there was a different pilot instead of Ash, he was talking to Walker and nodding nervously before jumping when he was patted on the shoulder. Walker turned to all of them and nodded.

"Mission is simple, we're acting as security for the council as they are in downtown conducting a speech. Our new pilot is going to fly us there then we'll take the trucks the rest of the way. Should be an easy mission but keep an eye out for any threats; word is that White Fang are in the area and locust have been striking closer to home." He said. There was a few hesitant nods before he turned back and sat in the copilot's seat.

The ride itself lasted half an hour before they finally arrived, the bullhead landed roughly on the pad and the doors opened slowly. They saw some new assault trucks and whistled at them, they were sleek in design but had plating that could shrug off a rocket once or twice. Walker climbed into the driver's seat while Jaune climbed into the passenger's seat and had his lancer ready. When everyone was inside they began to drive towards the destination in silence until Yang started humming in the back seat with Nora. Both of them eventually got into a sync and the others started humming as well to the tune. Neither Walker nor Jaune were in the mood to hear any singing and were quick to silence them. The teams that were in the truck could only stare at the two with mixed expressions, both containing agitation and uncertainty. Something was up with them and they could tell. One, both boys were usually more upbeat than this and two, both were at the ready more than usual.

Twenty minutes had passed by and they were still on the road driving in silence. They had to stop when a crowd of civilians walked by towards downtown to see the council give their speech; if fact some of them were excited to see what it was like. Blake was excited to see the council actually trying to do something to rally the people rather than spend it on unnecessary things. It seemed that this war was beginning to mitigate the racism and this is what she hoped for but wished that there wasn't a war to begin with. Her thoughts were interrupted when the truck suddenly stopped and shut off.

"We're here." Walker said.

"Any specific place you want us?" Jaune asked.

"Snipers up top, infantry and support near the middle of the crowd, Heavy hitters stick near the outskirts, and leaders are near the council members. Shit hits the fan then we put the members in the truck and deal with the threat." Walker said.

"Lethal force authorized?" Jaune asked.

"Affirmative. If there is any threat then we neutralize them before anything can happen, whether it be Grimm, Locust, or people, we can't let anything happen to the council. Got it?" He asked.

"Yes sir." They said. All of them got out and began to take up their respective positions, Ruby and May quickly went up to the rooftops and began to run across before they stopped a few blocks away and kept an open eye out. Infantry stuck to the middle of the crowd in pairs and kept an eye out while the heavy hitters took the outskirts and provided initial security. The leaders did as they were told and stuck near the council, surprising them initially. Douglass breathed out in relief when he saw them and went up to Walker before shaking his hand.

"I'm so glad you can make it." He said.

"Did you have doubt that we would be here?" Walker asked.

"I didn't but the other two did." Douglass answered.

"Well, we're here. Anything happens then you're going into the trucks." Walker said.

"Understood, let's hope that nothing happens." Douglass commented. He began to walk to the podium and saw the other two next to him, all three saw various citizens standing there waiting for them to start. The speech began with them stating that they were grateful for everyone that was attending then stating the problem that was at hand. Everyone was informed of Vacuo's state and the council of all kingdoms had to call it a loss to the locust, which in turn made their mood turn somber enough to where Grimm could attract it. Yet, their moods quickly took a turn for the better when the three stated that this could be an opportunity for the world to unite, to get rid of any prejudice against the other race and fight together as one. At the beginning there was a clear gap between faunus and humans but as the speech kept going the gap between the two races began to converge until eventually it was one. Right now, there was no dirty looks, hateful comments, or even any discriminatory actions. Many people saw this as an opportunity for change, for a better future. There were soldiers in the crowd that held a certain bigotry towards the other race started to realize the futility of continuing to fight one another and wanted to start anew.

While the council was droning on about coming together to stop the threat, the Gears were keeping an eye out. They were listening to the speech and keeping guard at the same time, which in turn balanced them out. News crews were recording everything and reporting what was being witnessed as of today, many of them would label this day as a time of coming together, spreading hope around the kingdom. One of the news crew spotted Yatsuhashi standing guard with his armor on while keeping a straight face. They walked up to him and begun asking him questions regarding why the Gears were here, to which he simply stated they were acting as security. More questions were asked to him regarding what training was like, where they were going next, is there going to be more, what race are they accepting. He simply replied with a one word answer.

"Classified." He replied, making them blink in surprise.

"As in actually classified or you don't want to tell us?" The reporter asked.

"I mean it's classified. Our commander won't let us disclose any information without his consent." He answered and turned his gaze to the mass and beyond.

"Who is your commander?" She asked. He said nothing and merely pointed at Walker, who stood still as a sentinel while turning his head whenever he was addressed. The news crew gulped, they thought it had been someone like Ozpin or someone else but it was him? Don't get them wrong, they respected him for what he did in Atlas but there had been rumors of him doing things that others wouldn't dare to think about. They went back to the speech and began to record it again while keeping an eye on Walker.

The speech went on for another forty-five minutes and didn't seem to be coming to an end anytime soon, which pleased some people. It seemed this was having a positive effect on the community because at this point it was just a mass of both races as one whole body. It then shifted to the matter of jobs that would be available from this, which to some people would be a game changer, there wouldn't be that much poverty and some could probably make a decent living if they worked for it. From the matter of jobs then came the matter of joining the Gears, armed forces, or being a huntsman to help push back the threat of their home. A majority of the community perked up when the council suddenly called upon Walker, who let out a series of curses underneath his breath, then stepped off the podium to let him voice his words.

"I'm not going to lie to the people I'm defending because that would make me an unreliable person. We Gears are not always going to be seen as heroes in the story books, we're not going to be saviors of everyone, and we won't always be there to pick up the battle and change the tides. Yet, there is one thing we're able to do... defend humanity. We're the ones who will do everything in our power to do make sure those things are for the people and not ourselves. Our duty as soldiers is to protect humanity, whatever the cost. We are people who are going to mess up from time to time, but we always learn from our mistakes and make sure they never happen again. Whenever all else fails and you feel like the world is falling down on top of you, just glance at the sky because whenever we get word of trouble, we're usually the first ones to drop straight into the depths of hell to save who we can and what we can. You all may see soldiers wearing specialized gear and toting weapons but if you look at us, and I really mean look, you'll see individuals who are willing to sacrifice themselves to see you thrive in life. On the battlefield we are a family who will give it their all to save one another, but as a world we are one." He said. He expected a few claps from that awful speech he gave but what he got was a ocean of claps and cheers as the people gave it their all, the council could feel the positive aura that basked the whole area. Turning to look behind him, he saw that even the council was clapping at him before he sent a curt nod and walked back next to Blake, who smiled widely at him while he gave a thumbs up. The rest of the speech was basked in such a positive feel that the council wished everyone to try and make arrangements for the armed forces or start training to become huntsman or at least contribute to the war.

The mood was interrupted when everyone heard a loud siren. It was something that was struck fear in the civilians and dread in the soldiers and huntsmen. That sound usually signaled an attack on one of the walls, it was usually locust who did them while Grimm would follow up shortly after. All the civilians went into a panic while the Gears looked around to see where the sound was coming from. Walker held the side of his helmet and radioed to everyone.

"Half of you, get the council out of here. Once you take them to the drop off point rendezvous with us near the wall. The rest of you are with me." He ordered. There were various forms of conformation before he went to the truck and climbed in, waiting for everyone else to climb in and spun the vehicle around then sped off towards the siren. He swerved out of numerous cars and pedestrians before coming to a stop when traffic blocked the way. He muttered a curse before speeding into an alleyway and narrowly avoiding the things in it; the truck sped out of the alley and was back on course. Something flew overhead and everyone, except him, looked to see it was a missile.

"Walker, look out-" Blake tried to say but was interrupted when it landed near the vehicle and made him lose control, swerving uncontrollably before the whole truck flipped, tossing its occupants around and tumbling down the road. It was loud as they rolled around like ragdolls and they were all screaming widely before coming to a stop when they hit something. Groaning was the next thing they all could hear as they looked at each other with double vision, their aura still trying to rid itself of the trauma. It was clear they were upside down judging by the fact that Walker and Blake were dangling upside down in the front while the rest of them were on the roof.

Walker groggily looked around and saw that he was hanging upside down before sighing and unbuckling his seat belt, giving out a grunt of pain when he collided with the roof.

"Everyone in one piece?" He asked. Inaudible groans was what he got in response and he couldn't help but sigh in relief when no one had died, maybe one or two unconscious but otherwise unscathed. He looked over to his right and saw Blake still dangling upside down, her eyes were closed so it was safe to say she was knocked out. Shaking her a few times before getting out his canteen and splashing it on her face, she finally woke up quickly and looked around.

"You good?" He asked.

"No..." She groaned.

"Well, you got to walk it off." He replied, unbuckling her seat belt and catching her before sitting her down. She tried to smile but winced when she looked at her abdominal and saw something lodged in it. The pain didn't register until she shouted in pain, making him look over to see she had something long lodged in her. She may have not seen it but it was two pieces of metal lodged in her side. How fast did that go in order to go through the door?

"W-Walker?" She asked, slowly guiding her hand towards it but stopped the moment her finger touched it, the pain flared.

"Okay, okay. Blake, I need to move you, okay?" He asked. She nodded and winced when he guided his hands underneath her and picked her up, she cried out in pain and clutched onto him tightly when he tried to set her down. "Blake, I need to set you down. We can't get them out if I don't set you down." He said slowly. She finally steeled herself enough to let him set her down. Her breathing was labored the longer they all crowded around her, they didn't recoil until he took off her armor and lifted her shirt, only to see a giant, jagged, sharp piece of metal lodged into her stomach.

"Oh, Oum..." Some of them muttered.

"Jesus Christ..." He whispered. He looked around to see Penny wasn't with them and let out a few curses before turning back to her, tears leaked from the corners of her eyes, they needed to get these out of her. "Okay, Blake... I need you to listen to me." He said as he gripped the sides of her head.

"It hurts." She cried.

"I know, I know. It's going to hurt some more but we need to get these out of you." He said to her. She wasn't paying attention to him and all that clouded her mind was the pain in her stomach and leg. She could faintly hear him bark orders towards the others and saw them get closer. Suddenly everything was in pain and she let out a painful scream as he slowly pulled the metal from her side, her body thrashed around widely but soon found her legs gripped and held down to keep her from moving. It seemed like forever but it was only fifteen seconds. A set of hands immediately moved to her side and was doing their best to keep the blood in.

"Half way through, stay strong." He whispered before wincing when she began to scream again. At this point tears were actively leaking from her eyes as the second piece of metal was pulled from her.

"Stop! Stop! Stop! Please stop!" She cried as she pounded his chest. He ignored her hits and kept pulling for the next several seconds, he knew they were desperate hits of pain because he went through the same thing. She was in pain and they didn't have any anesthetic on them. Everyone winced when they heard her pleas, never once had they seen the quiet girl of RWBY crying her heart out and look so desperate before, it unnerved them. The bloody piece of metal was finally out and he tossed it to the side before going to her side.

"Ruby, reach in my lower left pocket and get the gauze from it. Cardin, Jaune, after she gives me it I need you two to lift her up." He said. She was quick to do so and quickly handed it to him. Once both boys saw this they gently lifted her up and watched as her stomach was wrapped tightly with the wrap before they set her down. Her breathing was quick and short making him grip her head firmly and make her look at him.

"Blake, it hurts, I know but you need to calm down or you'll go into pass out and go into shock from blood loss." He said. Her mind was somewhere else right now and he could hear locust roaring in the distance, deciding that her conscious wasn't an option he needed to put her to sleep. Crossing his arms, he began to choke her out with his forearms, much to everyone's shock.

"What are you doing?!" Weiss shouted. He ignored her and continued to choke out Blake, she naturally struggled but slowly she started to succumb to it.

"Don't fight it. I gotcha... I gotcha." He whispered. Her punches became slaps, slaps became defiant patting, and eventually her patting ceased and her hands slumped to the ground below them with a dull thump, he gently set her head down and placed her hands on her stomach before turning to them all. Their breath was heavy the longer they stared.

"There's locust outside." Jaune said.

"I know. Blake's out of commission now so she's not fighting. Right now we need to find out what the hell is going on but three of you need to keep Blake safe until we can get her to a hospital." He said.

"We'll do it." Ruby said almost instantly.

"Good. Once we deal with the locust we'll come back." He said. They nodded and watched as the rest poured out of the flipped APC and took cover behind cars and pieces of rubble, just in time to see a group of locust appear around a corner and spot them. They roared at them and began to fire while all of them ducked when rounds whizzed by them. Some of them popped up and fired at them, killing a few before getting back down when more rounds went by. A few more locust were killed before some of them seemed to fall back around the corner.

All of them quickly followed the remaining ones around the corner, only to see a massive hole in the wall, big enough to fit a Brumak. Bodies of countless people littered the street, killed in various ways. Some of them were crushed underneath rubble, some were shot, others were clawed to death, a small amount were burned to death, while most were mutilated by either bare hands or shotgun shells.

"Holy shit." Bolin whispered, voicing everyone's thoughts. All of them looked ahead and saw more locust pouring into the hole while a thunderous stomp could be heard in the distance.

"Fucking hell, we got to hold them off!" Walker ordered as he rushed forward. The rest were shaken out of their stupor and quickly followed him before taking cover behind cars, rubble, and buildings. Velvet recoiled when she accidentally stepped on an arm and gagged when the scent of bodies flooded her nose. An explosion and roars made them snap their heads to see the various locust spread out while a group of two started to rush in on them. These locust were reckless and carried cleavers which made eliminating them easy but their concerns were elsewhere, specifically where the rest of the locust were heading. Screams, roars, and gunfire echoed throughout the sky and made them all scowl.

"Their main concern wasn't us but the people around. This may sound like a shit plan but we need to split up and handle each locust group, it's the only way we can push them back enough for the walls to be fixed." He said.

"What about the Grimm? No doubt the negativity will draw them in also." Pyrrha said.

"We'll help out with that when we can. Our main concern is getting rid of the grubs." He replied. They all nodded and went to each section where the locust could be located, each with their individual team, leaving him alone. He clicked to the side of his helmet and radioed to all of his Gears, and he meant _all_ of them, to assist wherever they can. Each team, both old and new, gave him conformation stating they were heading wherever he sent them. The loud stomping could be heard growing closer and just past some trees beyond the hole he could faintly see a Brumak stumbling towards the opening, making him frown and an angry snarl adorn his face.

More locust spotted him all by himself and took the opportunity to start shooting at him, growling in agitation when he was faster than he looked and slid into cover.

 **"Ground walker!"** A Drone shouted and aimed its hammerburst at him, making him duck underneath a car. He waited for a few second before popping up when the rounds stopped and fired into the Drone, trailing a stream of rounds from its stomach to its head, killing it quickly. He reloaded faster than humanely possible and fired into the Grenadier that vaulted over cover but fell to the ground like a rag doll when it was killed. Three more locust rushed him but tried to dive out of the way when he threw a grenade in front of them, listening to the body parts splatter against the ground when it exploded. A Cyclops managed to maneuver around him and rushed at him with its chainsaw revved up making him do the same. They were locked in a duel and it was a display of power before he eventually overpowered it and made it lose its grip on the weapon, he took this opportunity to slam the chainsaw on its shoulder and force it down, spraying blood around the surrounding area and watching as its internal organs splash against the pavement. Getting back into cover and peeking his head over, he noticed the Brumak was nearly at the opening. He checked his ammo and noticed he was running low before reaching over and grabbing a few rounds from the dead Cyclops.

"Could always use more." He commented. Slamming the now full clip into the gun, he fired a portion of it into the Boomer that was stomping towards his cover and jumping back when its body almost fell on him. His Gnasher was still in the truck so he needed to use the Boomer's weapon for the time being. He fired a grenade into a group of Wretches and watched as their bodies flew into various pieces before reloading and firing another one into a Mauler was charging towards him, making it throw its shield up. It was faster than he expected and was on him before swinging its mace and slamming it on the ground near him, throwing him to the side. Quickly getting up and having his fists up, he dodged the next downward swipe and used its arm as a ramp before sending both his feet into its face and making it stumble back. He let his body go backwards before rolling backwards on the ground, using his feet and arms to stop himself and stabilize his body. The Mauler tried to reach for its mace after recovering but found it gone and looked up to see him swing it with nearly all his might towards its face. Its head was turned into a fine mist of red while the helmet shattered.

The thundering steps made him stumble and he looked back to see the Brumak enter the hole and look around before spotting him and giving a earth shattering roar. He looked and saw the pilot who looked awfully familiar, until he recognized it, it was one of Skorge's guards. While the Brumak was roaring he was too busy trying to keep his mind in check but was quickly failing when his vision started to warp before a red ring surrounded it.

With a horrifying roar of himself, he charged towards the Brumak, ignoring the rockets that soared towards him and had his sight on one target. That target would not escape his fury, even if it meant taking down the forty-foot reptilian in front of him first.

* * *

 **Hello everyone, how the fuck are you all today? Good, because I'm sure as hell not, well I am but I'm not. Anyways, I'd like to thank you all for sticking with this up until this point and enjoying it so far. I don't have much to say so onto reviews.**

 **Disabled-doctor: Believe me, it's not getting cancelled. I might go on Hiatus in the near future but it won't be cancelled.**

 **Jkdelta38: Thank you, I appreciate your love.**

 **blackdog420: Thank you for the support, greatly appreciated.**

 **DigitalPh33r Fan: Fucking finally, someone got the damn reference! One of my fans asked me where that was from and I told her to look it up, so she said, "Oh... it's from _that_ game." Needless to say I was a little pissed she was talking shit about Reach. The matter of the helmets, I haven't decided yet so you'll just have to wait to find out. Thank you for the support though.**

 **sebitor: Thanks for the support, you won't have to wait months at a time because I don't roll like that... most of the time. Don't worry, he will.**

 **Guest: Yeah, I'm trying to improve on that. Sorry about that.**

 **Blaze1992: I'm surprised too, and I wrote the fucking chapter, but as far as the JACK matter, I'll try to come up with something that won't create a giant ass plot hole.**

 **Now that those are done, I would like to once again thank you all for reading this. I know what you're going to say about the reason why I didn't have them in Vacuo even though the Locust mostly occupy it, and the reason is because they didn't have enough firepower to do a full on siege. More about that will be explained in the upcoming chapters but for now I have to go. Remember, if you don't like the story then please take the nearest exit and kindly leave. I'm not a big shot author on this site and I won't impress everyone so I'll continue things how I see fit. Thank you and have a good day.**


	19. Chapter 19: Everything ain't alright

The streets were filled with dust and rubble that clouded the sky. Buildings were collapsing from the various explosions that rocked their foundations and the scent of blood and death was heavy in the air, clouding it like a thick smog. Screams were heard and roars echoed throughout the sky while the cracking of gunfire thundered loudly. This was war. The scent of death and gunpowder, the screams of terror and pain. This was the environment he was used to, one full of tragedy more than anything else.

The Brumak was lying dead on the ground while he continued to gut the rider with his knife then stick both his hands in its stomach and shift them around, eventually he found its spine and snapped it in half, then lifted it above his head and ripped the body in half. Both parts flew in opposite directions while globs of blood coated his figure as he breathed harshly. He was drunk on rage at this point and he couldn't bring himself to care in the slightest, slowly turning around he found himself staring at the countless locust and civilians that littered the street, staining the pavement red. Roars could be heard in the distance and a permanent snarl was twisted on his face, he would rip every last one of them apart even if it meant he would die in the end. They brought this on themselves and it was only fair he was the one who delivered the punishment.

Sliding off the Brumak's back and then its head he quickly retrieved his Lancer from the ground. He suddenly took off in a random direction, jogging quickly and vaulting over rubble, he didn't know where he was going but just headed in the direction where the locust were. A ramp of rubble lead up to a rooftop and he quickly scaled it before stopping at the edge of the roof, he could barely see troops in the streets killing anybody they saw that looked like a human. There was a scream to his left and he saw a group of civilians and a couple of Gears guarding them behind a piece of rubble; he then saw a group of locust advancing towards them in the street. Tossing a grenade in front of the group, he waited for it to explode and kill three of them before he jumped off the side of the roof with his weapon pointed downwards. He fired into a Grenadier below him and killed it instantly before landing on it as it broke his fall. He rolled off the corpse while grabbing its Gnasher in the process and aimed it at the nearest locust, firing two times and being rewarded with the savory sound of buckshot against flesh and the dying gurgle of a grub. Using the body as a springboard he fired into another locust and saw its body splatter against the pavement in multiple pieces. At this point the locust saw him as the most lethal threat and aimed their weapons at him but found themselves gunned down by the Gears behind them. A Mauler suddenly crashed through the wall and charged at him. It swung its mace at him horizontally making him jump over it then sidestep another swipe. He ducked over another swipe and curled his fist then sent it forward into its stomach, making its insides curl up and flare in pain.

 **"BBBLLLAAAARRRGGHHH!"** The Mauler vomited loudly to the side as a chunky mixture of brown and red stomach contents splashed against the cement. It burped and coughed before turning and glaring at him. It swung its mace at him in a downward swipe but instead of ducking or jumping, he actually blocked it with all his might and began to climb onto its arm and onto its back. It thrashed around wildly while trying to throw him off but roared in pain when he sent a fist to the back of its head with a loud crack, he sent more and more punches before grabbing the horns on the side of its helmet and twisting it, making a loud snap resound throughout the air. The body fell with a loud thump and he rolled off of it before turning back to the group, who had their jaws hanging limply from their faces, then walked up to them.

"Holy shit..." One of them muttered. None of his Gears had seen him fight before and to say they caught it firsthand was an understatement. Some of them realized he was going easy on them, almost insultingly easy, but that mattered little; they had just witnessed their commander take down one of the more dangerous locust with his bare hands.

"You all good?" He asked.

"y-yeah! We're fine, thanks boss." One of them answered.

"Good, get these people to one of the safe houses, there should be one on Oak street." He said.

"How are we supposed to know where to look?" Another one asked. He didn't say anything and brought out a UV flashlight, shining it on the wall to reveal an arrow pointing in the direction. Turning back to see them nod and head in the direction while occasionally shining their personal flashlights at the walls, they began to lead the civilians towards the safe house. Switching to a private channel, he radioed to all of his Gears telling them if they found any civilians then to take them to the safe house in that section of the zone and that there would be medical supplies, ammunition, and food for when they get there. He received their forms of conformation before switching off the channel but not before seeing something in his helmet, a breach in his systems. It had a black chess piece that made him scowl.

"JACK." He called out. A few seconds later the prized bot gave a few happy beeps upon seeing him and followed him into an alley away from the cameras. He took off his helmet and held it up to the bot, seeing him give a few confused beeps while looking at him.

"I need you to purge this breach, think you can do that?" He asked. A few beeps were what he was given in response and he smiled when he saw JACK grab the helmet and stick a cord into it, he saw him hover for a few seconds before giving a few happy beeps and handing Walker his helmet back. He took it back and saw that the breach had indeed been purged but also that his firewall had increased dramatically, making him raise an eyebrow. Last time he increased the firewall was last month and even then it was military grade at best. So how the hell was it suddenly almost impenetrable?

"You do this buddy?" He asked. Silence was what he got in return before he saw JACK disappear but still felt his presence. Brushing off the fact that the bot did something it wasn't programmed to, he continued his journey throughout the city. Minutes turned to tens of minutes and that eventually stretched into an hour of patrolling the breached safe zone. Now don't get him wrong, he enjoyed being in the city but he was never one to be in it this long, they were here for over five hours and already it seemed like the safe zone had been in the gutter for a month now. A lot of buildings were crumbled, people lie dead in the street, locust ran amok. Unlike Atlas or Vacuo, Vale only had the upper class district under locust control but every other district was free, or in control at least. Patch wasn't noticed by them yet so thank God for that. Countless times he came across a group of locust but they were dealt with quickly and had their ammo scavenged from their corpses.

This was the process he had done for the next two hours; explore, kill, scavenge, repeat. It was simple yet in a sort of fucked up way, relaxing, doing it for four years on Sera was almost like breathing to him. You explore places that haven't been touched, kill anything that gets in your way, scavenge what you can, repeat the process to live another day. Pretty simple in his eyes. Only difference is that Vale still had a lot of shit to scavenge, in his eyes this place was practically a gold mine for looters. His thoughts were cut short when he got a message from Ozpin stating that he and any able Gears were needed near the breach in the wall once the locust were dealt with, making him sigh in anger then rush towards the wall, killing anything that got in his way. Vultures seemed to fly high in the sky looking around for scraps to pick clean, and he didn't mean the birds.

* * *

Let's just say the walls weren't any better than the state the commercial district was in. Dissipating bodies of Grimm were flowing into the air while blood from the countless huntsman and civilians corpses stained the ground. One word to describe the current situation? Shit-show. A massive clusterfuck of a shit-show was what this was. He had seen bodies of countless people in one place throughout the war on Sera but never had he seen so many enemies all in one place. He was wrong to think it was just Grimm, no, it was Grimm _and_ locust knocking at the door. Thank god that the fucking wall was sturdy, otherwise the whole thing would have been worse.

So here he was, fighting by his lonesome with a couple of huntsman and Gears as support, they were barely keeping the threat at bay until the rest showed up but if anybody was doing the most damage it would be Walker. Everybody near him could see that, his body was relaxed while his aim was steady, each round he fired seemed to hit a vital organ that left the threat dying shortly after while he still had plenty of ammo to fire before reloading. Some of the huntsman could see why people wanted to be Gears more than anything, they wanted to be fearless like him, never backing down in the face of a threat unless they had no other choice, they wanted to _be_ him. The locust still poured into the hole but a majority of them were combating the Grimm that attacked them, some of them fell while others swiftly brutalized the Grimm before focusing their attention back on the hole. They piled in and got a couple of huntsmen with their shots but managed to kill a few Gears as well. Gunfire cracked into the air and the rounds of the guns discharged broke the speed of sound and impacted whatever its destination was, whether it be flesh and bone or metal and concrete. For the next several minutes the group had taken on countless locust but were falling back more as more troops began to pour in.

As if lady luck was suddenly on their side two more groups of Gears slammed into the cover next to them, one of them being Jane and her squad. Don't get him wrong, Jane and her squad were wonderful soldiers, but he couldn't help but be annoyed by their advances and striving to be the best out there. Pride is what would get them killed one day, and that just might be today with how they were acting. The only person that didn't strive to be better than others was the squad leader, he's seen the man smile in his downtime but whenever a mission came up he was one you could count on.

"Heard you needed some backup, eh boss?!" One of them grinned.

"NO! I NEEDED A FUCKING BACK MASSAGE, OF COURSE I NEEDED BACKUP!" He bellowed in response, making them wince. They managed to peek from their cover and saw a dead Bloodmount riddled with holes and blood slowly leaking from its corpse. In fact, they could see countless locust lying dead in the street while the bodies of huntsmen could be seen and a few injured Gears. They didn't need to see Walker's face to see that he was beyond pissed at this point at them, and they could only shudder what their punishment would be.

"Sir, what's our next course of action?" The leader asked.

"Kill the locust until they stop coming, provide security for any more threats-" He was interrupted when a Boomshot grenade impacted the wall behind them and sent rubble, dust, and small pebbles flying all over them. It was close and made everyone's ears ring loudly, disorientating them for a bit. Quickly shaking his head and firing blindly, he managed to kill a Grenadier that was rushing towards them. They all heard the sound of flames being thrown their way and some of them jumped out of the way to avoid them.

 **"** **BURRRRRRN!"** A Flame Boomer bellowed as he laughed and shot another torrent of flames. They all began to fire on it but frowned when it wasn't falling; Walker was the only one to shot it in the canister on its back and watch it roar out in anguish before the tank exploded. Its body splattered against the ground and blood flew into the air, some of it splattered on the Gears and they recoiled a bit but had to brush it off when more rounds flew their way. A loud screech was heard and they all looked up to see a couple of Reavers flying towards them before slamming on the ground and screeching.

"What the hell is that?!" A huntsman shouted, firing her gun at it. It turned to her and marched towards her before sending one of its legs at her faster than she could comprehend and skewered her body. It turned back to the Gears and fired rockets at them while still having the body on its leg, ignoring the blood seeping down it. Everyone fired into it and it took a while but they eventually managed to kill it and watch as its body fell and exploded, killing the two passengers on it also. Ten minutes had passed by and finally JNPR arrived and slammed into cover next to him.

"The fuck took you so long?!" Walker asked.

"Sorry, a few of the locust kept us busy. The civilians are guarded by a few huntsman at the safe house, so we're good to fight." Jaune answered, peeking over and firing into a sniper with his snub and watching as its head exploded and the body fell over. He grinned at that and quickly reloaded before firing more into another locust and saw the body fly backwards. Adrenaline began to flood his system and fill him with euphoria as he gunned down more locust.

Jane could only watch with widened eyes as her brother fought. It was almost scary to see him fight like this, so fluid yet so brutal at the same time. She wasn't the only one; Pyrrha also noticed how he fought. Normally she was the one who would coach Jaune on swordplay but ever since he became a Gear he stopped using the sword so often. His weapons of choice now were either a gun, knife, or grenade, the only time he uses a sword is to kill a large locust and Grimm. What was happening to her leader?

The firefight began to die down as more and more locust fell to the Gears, everybody else was crouched behind cover but Walker and Jaune weren't. In fact, they were slowly moving up when a locust was killed, moving cover to cover while still acting as the opposing force. Even the huntsmen who were near the Gears looked at the two with eyes that were slowly widening, they knew their guns were running empty but whenever they ran out of ammo for one gun they would switch it out for the other, and when that happened they would either pick up ammo on the ground or wretch a weapon from a dead grub's hands and use it to kill more. Pretty soon they were lost in such a state that they didn't care about their own safety and recklessly charged forward, although Jaune took a safer approach by moving cover to cover quickly. Walker jumped over a car and kicked the nearest locust onto the ground before curb stomping its head and squashing it like a bloody balloon. He quickly blocked an attack from a Drone and gripped its shoulders before violently headbutting it then slam its dazed head on his knee and splitting its face open. There was a roar behind him and he turned to see a Theron rushing towards him but saw it get tackled by Jaune, who proceeded to violently stomp its face into the pavement. His leg was caught in a series of rapid up and down movements while the head beneath his foot slowly started to cave it. On his last stomp the Theron's head suddenly ruptured and sent blood all over his pant leg and the ground below. He suddenly whirled around and flipped his knife in a reverse grip and stabbed a Wretch in the eye and rip it out before catching another one by the throat and stab it in the skull.

Everyone saw that the locust were finally thinned out in numbers and that there was one left, they were about to fire on it but stopped when Walker tackled it to the ground. He snapped its leg the opposite direction and listened to it roar in pain before his fist began to bash down on its face. Punch after punch the face began to cave in slowly while blood flew from its wounds. His seventh punch is when he started to see results of it caving in and drove them harder. By the time his eighteenth punch rolled around he reared his right fist back and threw it forward with all his might, making the head explode. Blood and brain matter splattered against him as his breath was ragged before he finally stood up. He turned back to see everybody looking at him with slightly fearful expressions, not just him but Jaune also. They had never seen the two so brutal before and to say it was a welcome sight would be a lie. Both Pyrrha and Jane covered their mouths when they saw Jaune and his blood soaked figure while Nora cowered behind Ren, who gulped a bit when he looked at the two. The new Gears felt a lump in their throat when they saw their commander covered head to toe in blood and viscera. Even the huntsmen backed up a bit when the two turned to them. Neither of the parties saw regular people, they saw demons that they had a healthy fear of.

Both of them took deep breaths and calmed down before retrieving their weapons and scrounging around for ammo and reloading before walking back to the group, who took a instinctive step back from them at first.

"Now that the fucking grubs are dead, we can get down to business. Jane." Walker called out and saw her flinch.

"Y-Yes sir?" She gulped.

"Your squad and Epsilon are going to provide security until the repairmen get here. JNPR, stay here with them and while the huntsman get in contact with Ozpin." He ordered.

"We are?" A huntress asked, receiving a soul piercing gaze in return. "Right! We are!" She corrected nervously and brought up her scroll. Walker nodded and began to walk in the opposite direction of them.

"Where are you going?" Ren asked.

"Going to kill more grubs, find out where the girls are, and see if I can get the base out at sea up and running sooner." He answered. They were going to voice their concerns but thought they heard more locust and turned to the breach but saw nothing and turned back to see him gone already. It always unsettled them to see him do that.

* * *

A couple more hours passed by and he finally found the safe house the girls were at. He was so tired right now, all he wanted to do was fall asleep and let his worries fade along with his dreams but he knew that wasn't possible, too many people could be killed if they didn't do something. The only one that had the luxury of sleeping was Blake, but that's only because she was unconscious. His safe houses were possibly considered bunkers to the average civilian and miniature bases to Gears and soldiers, even huntsmen to a point. They contained everything that was needed; ammo, food, water, a roof over your head, and a small amount of safety and closure. He didn't tell anybody this but he spend damn near six missions worth of payment on these and they finally seemed to be paying off. He was stopped by a huntsman at the door but one of his Gears, which turned out to be Kendra from the Operation Snowfall, merely brushed the man aside and let him through, much to the irritation of the man.

"How is everyone?" He asked.

"Everyone's alive, shaken up and probably traumatized but otherwise alive." She replied.

"Good." He nodded and looked around. There were almost dozens of citizens in this safe house and he was glad he picked places that had a lot of space because everyone here would've been crowded. Bunk beds were set up in rows and a food line could be seen with some people receiving food in bowls before going to sit down and eat. There was a few crates of ammunition and weapons while a crate full of Gear armor could be seen in the corner. A map was seen on a wall with all the safe zone locations marked while a Gear was seen sitting in front of the desk with a laptop on it and was staring at it intently. He walked up and saw the Gear stand up quickly and salute him before sitting down again.

"You seen Belladonna anywhere?" He asked.

"She's in the back over by the medical section. We've managed to seal up her wound but her aura should take care of the rest." The Gear pointed to the section of the safe house where medical beds could be seen in rows.

"Thanks." Walker nodded and walked over to the girls, who were crowded around Blake, who was still unconscious. They had yet to notice him but jumped in surprise when he pulled up a chair next to them and sat down.

"Walker!" They shouted in unison and quickly went up to him, asking him a series of questions before seeing him covered in blood and backed away.

"Oh my Oum! What happened?" Ruby asked.

"Fought the grubs at the breach for a few hours, got a little messy though." He answered.

"Messy? Walker, you're covered head to toe in blood, dirt, and whatever else." Weiss listed off.

"Aside from that, how are you all?" He asked.

"Not very good..." Yang trailed off, making the others nod also.

"How is she?" He pointed to Blake.

"She's stable, turns out one of the medics here managed to get her wound sealed and she should be up in a few days." Ruby said.

"Alright... radio me when she wakes up. In the meantime, see if you can kill any grubs outside." He said, going to the ammunition box and carrying all that he could before walking towards the door.

"Wait, where are you going?!" Ruby asked, slightly shrinking when everybody looked at them and went silent. She could see his shoulders tense at the unwanted attention before he looked over his shoulder.

"Teaching these grubs a lesson." He answered and walked out, leaving everyone in silence. The only sound was of the food in the pots bubbling and the sound of the hospital equipment being run.

* * *

JNPR, Epsilon, and Bravo squad were all surprised to see Walker walking towards them and stopped near them in silence. It took a few hours but a crew of construction men managed to chalk up some bravery and get to work on sealing the hole, it wasn't pretty but it didn't need to be if they were going to keep anymore threats out. The injured Gears sat on the side with bandages on while the able bodied ones stood at the ready but noticed that Walker wasn't even at the ready, in fact... he was eerily calm.

"Boss, how are you so calm?" Jane asked.

"Because the grubs are gone, that's why." He answered.

"How do you know? They just launched a full scale attack on us." Her squad mate stated.

"If they launched a full scale attack then we wouldn't be talking right now. This was a test to see if we could handle an attack like this and we could, so now they know." He said in a hollow tone.

"I don't mean to doubt you, but how do you know?" Ren asked.

"Call it a hunch." Walker replied. Ren was about to say something else until he remembered who he was talking to, someone who had dealt with the locust before and lived to tell the tale.

"Well, the wall should be sealed up in a the next several hours." Pyrrha said, trying to lift everybody's spirits.

"Yeah, then we can go home!" Nora cheered.

"No." He said, shutting her down.

"What do you mean no, Robot man? We just took down a whole bunch of them and won, I say that's a victory well achieved." She said.

"Nora, were you listening? This wasn't an attack for the kingdom and you know that, it was a test in our defenses and no doubt they'll be prepared next time they come knocking at our door, we got lucky." He said before turning to all of them. "We're not going home until the council is alright." He added.

"That could take days!" A Gear complained.

"Is that complaining I hear? Because I swear to fucking God if it is then I trained a fucking whiner, so is that whining?" Walker asked.

"No sir." The Gear sighed.

"Welcome to the Gears, you signed up for it now live with it." He said and turned back to the wall. The sky was turning dark at this point and a lot of the Gears turned their flashlights on, with the exception of the faunus ones, and aimed it at the wall for the repairmen to continue their work while trying to remain calm. At this point the sky was pitch black and everyone was tired, with the exception of him, and wanted nothing to do then go home and try to sleep off this entire experience but knowing how things were going, that wasn't happening anytime soon. The only sound that was heard was the sound of the various repairmen doing their best to seal the wall as fast as they could without messing something up. Tens of minutes turned to hours and they were still repairing the walls, the smell of rain was in the air and that made everyone's mood turn sour and seek shelter underneath some rubble or in a wrecked store from the upcoming storm. The only person who was still standing out there was Walker, not even bothering to seek shelter and just let the rain wash away all the dirt, blood, and whatever was sticking to his skin from the last day.

"That's so... unsettling." Jane commented.

"I have to agree with you on that, sis. Never once had we seen him this... still before." Jaune commented. In fact, everyone had yet to see him move from that position, he was almost like a gargoyle the way he stood.

"... Jaune, can I ask you a question?" Pyrrha asked.

"Uh, sure." He answered.

"What happened back there?" She asked.

"I don't quite follow." He scratched his head. She could only roll her eyes at his dense nature returning.

"I mean when you and Walker were killing those locust. You changed, a lot." She murmured.

"Oh..." He whispered before looking down for a while then looking back up. "I don't know... one moment I'm next to you guys fighting normally then the next I'm next to Walker with my clothes soaked in blood. I don't know what's happening and personally... it scares me." He brought his knees to his chest. Everyone could see it in his eyes that he was scared, scared of what he was becoming and couldn't do anything to stop it.

"I think that's what the boss was saying..." Jane's squad leader chimed in, drawing everybody's eyes.

"What are you talking about, Jericho?" Jane asked.

"The boss always lectured us that sometimes we become the monsters we fight, that we'll get so lost in the rush that we forget who we are. I don't think you're that far gone but you're on your way of becoming a monster." He pointed towards Jaune, making his eyes widen.

"He told us that too." Nora said quietly.

"He's telling us this so we don't become like him." Ren voiced.

"But boss isn't a monster." Jane said.

"He is, unfortunately, but he's a different kind of monster... one that we need on our side." Jericho said. All was silent as the rain down poured outside and soaked the ground. Even the repairmen had to come take shelter with the Gears in the small store as they waited for the weather to clear up, and still Walker was out there, still as a statue. They all were beginning to get worried about him when they checked the time to see that it was around two in the morning.

"We have to get him." Nora said.

"He seems perfectly fine." A repairman said from the back.

"He could get sick." She countered.

"So?" He asked.

"So? SO?! He doesn't have an aura and with conditions like these he could catch an illness!" She shouted.

"What does it fucking matter? Then that's on him." He brushed off.

"How about showing a little fucking gratitude. We just saved your lives." Jaune shot.

"Oh, the great saviors want some gratitude? Well let me just kneel down and lick your boots because you did such a great job at defending us and making us stand out in the rain for seven hours to repair a wall! Thank you so much!" The repairman said while getting on his knees and fake kissing a pair of shoes. "News flash, assholes, you're not saviors, you're not huntsman, and you're most certainly not good people. You're nothing but failures pretending to be good people to get over your mistakes. If you were saviors then those huntsmen and your Gear pals would still be alive." He added. Some of them glared at him while others looked down at the ground at the words. Jaune shot to his feet and charged at the man but was stopped by his team, they had a hard time keeping him restrained.

"Jaune, this isn't us!" Pyrrha reasoned.

"Then maybe we should reconsider." He growled out.

"Jaune, listen, he's wrong okay? He doesn't know who we are." Ren tried.

"Well fuck him! Bastard doesn't deserve to fucking live for talking about us." Jaune snarled, startling them. This wasn't Jaune, this wasn't their goofball that they loved, this was someone else entirely.

"Figures, you assholes are so protective of one another that it's sick. Your little commander must feel the same way." The man said and turned to see Walker gone from his spot, in fact, everybody noticed it. It was silent for a minute before they turned to the back of the store to see a door close then jumped back in fright when they suddenly saw him in the store with them, almost as if he had been there the entire time. In his hand was a severed head of a Drone as he stared at the repairman, and only him, like he was a hawk staring down at its prey.

"It's funny how smug you are when you think I'm not listening." He said in a hollow tone. It was one that held nothing; no anger, no happiness, no sadness, just... nothing. He tilted his head and everyone in the store recoiled when they heard his neck crack loudly, almost as if he had snapped it.

"Half that shit is true." The repairman said.

"Hmm, that it is. You seem to fail to realize that we're doing this out of our own time, which means that we have every right to leave you all now and say you have perished in the attack. It's kind of easy to make people like you disappear, it really is. Kill you here, fabricate a lie, provide enough evidence and no one will think twice about your death. It can all happen with the simple bullet and your body out there. I've done it so many times it's not funny." Walker said as he stepped closer. Everyone was frozen stiff at the confession, how many times has he done it?

"You're lying." The man said.

"Oh? If I'm lying then you'll have no problem with a bullet in your skull." Walker said as he pulled out his Boltok and aimed it at the man's head slowly.

"Walker, Walker!" Pyrrha said.

"You really think that we're just doing this for fun? We're doing this to keep your sorry ass alive so you can see your family the next day. We go through the trouble to keep you safe so you don't have to." He said, his aim never wavering. The man gulped when he saw the hammer be pulled back and closed his eyes when he heard three shots ring out then shakily opened them to see the gun aimed to his left and at the door that closed earlier. Everybody looked and saw the door had blood seeping through with three holes in it. A body suddenly fell out and it revealed itself to be a sniper, patiently waiting for them to lower their guard to make a kill.

"How'd you know?" Jaune asked.

"Went around the building to kill anymore grubs still about, found three but lost the third for a second, found him though." Walker answered and put the pistol away before turning back to the repairman, "Catch." He threw the head at the man and let out a dark chuckle when he saw him fumble around with the severed head.

"So what do we do now?" Nora asked.

"Wait until the storm passes, then get back to repairing the wall." He answered while leaning back on the shelf.

"The storm doesn't look to be passing up anytime soon." Jaune looked out.

"Then we'll be here for a while, better rest up while you can." Walker advised and closed his eyes. Everyone sighed and got comfortable while keeping an eye on the wall, they were finally walking in his shoes and wanted nothing else to get rid of the experience from their heads.

* * *

The rain had finally stopped when the sun rose and everybody could only smile at the vibrant image peeking through the hole, it was scary to see that the hole wasn't sealed up but it was also beautiful to see the sun peek over the trees. As soon as everybody was up and ready they began working, the only exception from the previous day was there were more people helping out to seal up the hole and were almost done. By noon the hole was sealed up and everybody breathed in relief when they saw it closed, it wasn't pretty but it would hold until they could recover from the breach. It's almost funny how two years ago there was a breach in the middle of Vale and it didn't kill anybody but this one killed possibly hundreds in the span of a day. The population of the entire world was possibly ten million now, as opposed to the seventeen that started. The locust might actually win with how things were going now, they were playing it smart and were making progressions, it unsettled him.

"Hey boss?" Jericho asked.

"Yep." Walker said back.

"Do we look for survivors?" He asked.

"No, our job is done. As ruthless as it sounds, we provided the security we could and have cleared damn near every grub out now, not to mention the council said that they'd have the first respondents do that." Walker grunted as he lifted some rubble off of a body and threw it to the side.

"Still can't help but feel like we should." Jericho sighed.

"I do to but we've received orders from them not to..." Walker said. Both were quiet for a minute before Jericho spoke up again.

"We're still going to, aren't we?" He asked. A nod was what he got in return and internally smiled that they weren't just going to leave these people in the dust, he saw Walker hold the side of his helmet and sigh in relief before standing on a flipped car and addressing them all.

"Listen up, people. Just got word that the council is safe so our job here is done in their eyes, but it's not, not until we find the survivors of the attack and bring them to a safe house or back home. Keep in mind that our new objective isn't to coddle them or make them feel better, it's to get them to a safe place until they can go from there. Everybody know what they're doing?" He asked.

"Yes sir!" They shouted in unison.

"Everybody know where to go?" He asked again.

"Yes sir!" They shouted again.

"Jaune, Jericho, lead out!" He ordered. He saw them nod then start heading towards the city while looking for any survivors and bring them to safety, meanwhile he was making a call. The scroll rang for a few seconds before he heard the scroll pick up and Ash's tired voice ring out.

"Hello?" He yawned.

"Ash, hey, listen I need you and whatever pilot you got to head down to the city." Walker said.

"What's the occasion?" Ash rubbed his eyes and sat on the side of his bed.

"For starters, the wall in the commercial district was breached and the locust managed to get in and kill probably hundreds of people." Walker sighed.

"Shit... okay, I'll be there soon. Any specific place?" Ash asked, throwing on some pants.

"Near the harbor." Walker answered.

"Alright, see you in an hour or two." Ash said.

"See you then." Walker said and hung up, sighing when he looked at the sealed up hole and took off towards the designated location of the safe houses. He passed by countless bodies and searched everywhere he could; restaurants, drug stores, convenience stores, supermarkets, gun shops, and everywhere else somebody would seek a safe haven from the attack. There were maybe a couple people he's found overall and they all were shown the path of the closest safe house, many of them giving him their gratitude in various ways. More searching for survivors began to take a toll on him as his vision began to have a red hue to it and started to warp when he saw the bodies of people in the street but he quickly shook it off and continued to do his solo patrol of the breached district before calling it quits. He could hear ambulances rushing towards the various safe houses while law enforcement sped throughout the streets.

"I thought they were supposed to be _first responders_?" He seethed. They always showed up late in his eyes, always waiting to pick off the scraps while his men do the heavy lifting. This was why they never got any praise from him, if they cared about the people then they wouldn't show up a day late. Shaking his head of those negative thoughts, he started to walk back towards the safe house to get everybody ready for the transport. Multiple cars passed by him and some of the occupants looked at his lone figure before they went towards the sealed up breach, only one car stopped and slowly drove next to him.

"Do you need a ride?" They asked.

"No." He said flatly.

"You sure?" They asked again.

"One-hundred percent." He said in the same tone.

"We're heading towards the hole, we could use your help." They said.

"The hole's sealed up already. You also don't need my help because you just want to look good. Do your damn job and go find more civilians that I couldn't, at least then you'll do some good rather than sit on your ass all day." He said then turned from the pair in the patrol car, not even bothering to listen to what they had to say and continued to walk towards the safe house. The one where the girls were at wasn't too far and only took half an hour but he had to make a detour since there was a collapsed building in his way; normally he would climb over the rubble but there were too many loose pieces to fall into and he didn't want to get stuck. The building's door was open and he walked right in, ignoring the guard's complaints and saw that everyone was packing up, he forgot he sent a message to them all about the pickup.

He heard excited squealing and didn't need to look to see it was Ruby, before moving slightly when her form collided with his stomach and made him grunt a bit. He looked down at her face smiling at him before turning his gaze to Weiss and Yang, the red ring around his vision started to fade away and he breathed in relief when it did. There was cheering in the background and he turned, only to come to a confusing sight. Blake was giggling while the doctor sighed. He walked over to her and her eyes caught sight of him.

"Walker!" She gasped loudly before going into another giggling fit.

"Why are you laughing, Blake?" He asked.

"I dunno. This funny man gave me something and now I can't help _but_ laugh." She slurred. Yep, she pumped full of drugs. Her eyes were hazy and her body was relaxed, her face was also tinted red which gave her the impression she was drunk.

"She ripped open her stitches before her aura could kick in so I had to do something..." The doctor sighed. He just nodded and sat down on the bed, moving slightly when she threw herself into him and wrapped him in a hug.

"Blake, are you alright?" He asked.

"Psssh, yeah. The question is... are _you_ alright?" She pointed at him sluggishly.

"I'm fine, can you walk though? If you can then we need to get to the evacuation bullheads in an hour and a half." He said.

"Let me see..." She suddenly hopped off the bed and wobbled a bit before going still as a statue. She took one step forward before collapsing on the ground face first and muttering something before lifting her head up and laughing.

"Whoops!" She giggled. The girls were doing their best to keep their laughter inside but were quickly failing when they looked at Blake's red tinted face and childish actions, they really wish they were recording this, on second thought, they could! A small smirk made itself on his face before he flipped her around and carried her in his arms, doing his best to ignore her actions. They walked out of the safe house and it was locked on the way out while they walked towards the bullhead landing zone.

"I love you guys." She laughed, throwing her head back while looking at them upside down.

"We love you too." They replied in unison, drawing a dramatic gasp from her.

"I knew it!" She reached up and hugged his neck. They continued to walk towards the rendezvous point while listening to Blake's ramblings, most of them were humorous and brought a smile to their faces while others made them look at her with raised eyebrows. After an hour of walking she finally fell asleep with her head against his chest, she shifted around every so often to get comfortable then fell back into a deep sleep. It was silent as they walked before Ruby spoke up.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. We got your Gnasher from the truck." She beamed, holding out his prized shotgun.

"Sweet. Just put it on my back." He said, stopping and feeling the familiar weight of his shotgun on the left side of his back. "Thanks, Ruby." He added.

"No problem." She smiled.

"Anything else from the truck?" He asked.

"Practically everything, we've managed to get all the ammo and documents from them too." Weiss said.

"What about your weapons?" He asked.

"That too. When we mean everything, we actually mean _everything._ " Yang emphasized.

"Good, last thing we need is looters taking our shit." He said.

"Yeah... we know..." Ruby trailed off. This wasn't unnoticed.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Some looters came by the safe house during the storm last night. They had Gear weapons." Yang said, making him scowl.

"..." He was silent for a few minutes.

"They were taken care of though, not by us but by some of the others." Ruby said.

"Dammit..." He whispered. The mood dropped and they lowered their gazes at his tone when they heard it and looked at him.

"We're sorry." She said.

"Promise me one thing." He said out of the blue, making them look at him, "Promise me that no matter what, you girls do whatever it takes to stay alive. That if you kill, you do it out of necessity and not out of spite, anger, or enjoyment." He said. They were thrown into silence as they walked in the damaged street.

"Did you do those things?" Weiss asked.

"Yes. Girls, I've done things that make me both a monster and a good person in people's eyes. I've killed, tortured, beaten countless people and grubs because I've either had to or wanted to." He confessed.

"Why are you telling us this?" Yang asked.

"... Jaune's starting to fall down a dark path. I saw it yesterday when I was lost in my own rush. When others stopped, only him and I were the ones fighting like monsters rather than ourselves. Point is, I don't want anybody to fall down the same road I did. I want to be the only monster in this world... so when I die, there can't be anymore." He said. It was silent once again as they continued to walk, not long after the conversation happened they rounded the corner and saw the bullheads landing and taking off with hundreds of people being transported out of the area. He saw all his Gears, the alive ones, standing nearby and acting as security while some local law enforcement and the Vale military personal assisted them. Their prized dropship landed and the bay doors opened, making him load Blake into one of the nearby seats and lie her down carefully. He turned to see all his Gears crowd around him while the civilians and law enforcement looked at him, the military glanced at him and sent nods while he sent one back before gesturing for his forces to load into the different dropships that landed. Their job was done and the local military could take it from here, they had dealt with the locust so the least they could do was handle the body count. After all, this wasn't their first loss and it wouldn't be their last.

* * *

"793 civilians died, 488 law enforcement, 77 paramedics, 231 military personal, and 5 Gears had perished. There was nothing you could do about this Walker, we had no way of telling they would do this." Ozpin sighed. A week had passed since the breach in the zone and it was chewing at Walker, he had failed over a thousand people because he didn't want to step up his game, this was the cost.

"Still doesn't get rid of the fact that I failed that many people." He said.

"Our underground sensors didn't pick them up so they weren't using a Corpser. We don't know how far they were out in order to have a Brumak to just walk that close and create a hole." Ozpin said.

"They're playing it smart." Walker leaned forward in his chair, taking out Ozpin's knight before having his pawn taken by a rook.

"Indeed. How is everyone?" Ozpin asked, raising his eyebrow when Walker's knight took his rook.

"Blake's doing fine, she's been helping me get over this along with the girls. I've been helping Jaune with controlling his surges when in battle. The others have been doing what they do best to get over this and move on." Walker answered.

"And the new Gears?" Ozpin asked, clasping his hands together when he thought about his next move.

"Shipped out to their respective kingdoms, except the ones from Vacuo, they're headed to Mistral instead." Walker answered.

"Hmm, are you sure that's a good idea? With the breach happening just last week?" Ozpin asked, moving his bishop next to Walker's king. "Check." He said.

"They need to adapt to new environments. Some will fight in the frost while others will fight in the sand. Environments aren't always going to be in their favor, a hunter must adapt to their surroundings if they want to survive." Walker replied, taking Ozpin's bishop with his queen.

"I would usually say something that would dissuade you from doing that but I am no longer your headmaster as you have graduated two years ago." Ozpin said.

"Doesn't mean I still can't learn." Walker countered.

"Touche." Ozpin nodded. It was silent for a minute before the two were lost in their game and didn't notice how many pieces they had taken of one another's side. After ten minutes of silence, Walker finally spoke up.

"We're moving in the next month." He said, making Ozpin make a wrong move and curse under his breath when he realized his mistake.

"I thought you were supposed to move out there in June?" He asked.

"Nope, it's May now. The base is up and running, we'll use Beacon as a secondary base if needed." Walker answered.

"Well, I'll surely miss our games." Ozpin sighed. He enjoyed playing chess with him every Saturday, it really took off from all the carnage around.

"Yep. By the way, checkmate." Walker nodded and took Ozpin's king. His eyes widened when he saw his king surrounded and sighed before nodding in defeat. Walker waved over his shoulder and headed towards the elevator then entered it, clicking the ground level button and waited a minute as the ride descended with a soft hum. When the doors opened and he stepped out, his eyes caught sight of his scroll and saw it was from an unknown number and answered it.

"Hello?" He answered in his Kashkur accent.

"..." The line on the other end was silent.

"Fucking hell, blimey asshole." He cursed.

"I will have you know that I'm no blimey asshole." The voice snickered.

"Doesn't tell me who ya are, mate." He said.

"That is for me to know and for you to-" The voice started.

"Boring!" He interrupted.

"W-what?" The person on the other end sputtered.

"I said you're boring! Almost like those shake weight commercials on TV. Are you one of those people?" He asked randomly.

"No, I'm not." They deadpanned.

"If so, when is my shake weight coming in? I ordered it from you assholes like two months ago and it still hasn't come in yet. Don't tell me you actually lost it?" He said.

"What are you talking about?" They asked.

"My damn shake weight! You fucking lost my order, didn't you?! Wait till I tell your boss, Mike!" He shouted.

"My name's not even Mike, it's Tyrian!" The man on the other side said unknowingly before he went silent.

"Gotcha." Walker laughed darkly before hanging up. He would run a few searches to see if he could find this 'Tyrian' person and to find out why he was calling him on an unknown number, then find him and kill him before he could pose a threat, like he did to all those locust and people back on Sera. Take care of the threat before they could actually become a threat, works like a charm.

He walked back to the dorm house in silence and just enjoyed the sunny sky, it amazed him how bright things could be despite the darkness that surrounded them. A few of the students waved to him and he returned the gesture then continued the trek towards their "base", funny how he calls it that when it's nothing more than a section that is given to him for the meantime. More minutes of walking and he finally arrived at the front door, opening and closing it with a soft clank. It wasn't uncommon for everyone to be gone and do their own thing, in fact he almost encouraged it to keep them from becoming bland. He walked to his room and raised an eyebrow when he saw Blake lying on his bed with a book in her hand, her ears would flick occasionally when she turned a few pages.

"Didn't think you liked my room so much." He commented as he sat down in front of the bed and turned on the TV.

"You're room is quiet, it smells good, and to top it all off, you have a lot of interesting books. It's like the library but better." She said.

"Glad you like it." He smirked.

"I'm not the only one who likes it. Yang likes it because you have a lot of games, Weiss likes it because your laptop is better and she can get her work done faster, and Ruby just likes being in here and jumping on your bed." She listed.

"I'm going to have to start locking my room now." He commented, switching a channel to look at a movie. A small giggle from her made him smirk when he thought back to her high state last week. It was quiet for a while with the exception of pages being flipped and the TV playing the movie, both of them enjoyed times like these. After a couple of hours, Ruby burst in her room with a scared expression and hid behind him.

"Walker! Hide me!" She shrieked.

"Why?" He deadpanned. He got his answer by Weiss' agitated voice echoing throughout the complex, almost putting him in a bad mood.

"RUBY ROSE! OH MY GOODNESS!" She screamed. Blake shut her book in agitation and looked up at the door, only to widen her eyes when she saw Weiss' hair and clothes soaking wet with what looked to be water or milk.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Ruby's oafish self spilled milk on me because she thought it would make these get bigger!" Weiss gestured towards her chest.

"That's what Yang told me! She told me if I drank milk then they'd grow!" Ruby cried out.

"What?! That's the most preposterous thing I've ever heard!" Weiss shouted.

"Girls..." He sighed.

"It works, just ask Yang!" Ruby shouted from his back.

"No! It doesn't!" Weiss exclaimed.

"Yes it does!" Ruby denied.

"Girls." His voice was a little louder, Blake knew what was going to happen and covered her ears.

"Why are you so immature?!" Weiss shrieked.

"Because I'm just like that! Deal with it!" Ruby answered.

"GIRLS!" He boomed, making them clamp their mouths shut and shake in place, it always unsettled them when he shouted that loud. "Stop arguing, you two ever notice how quiet it is in my room?" He asked.

"Yes." They both replied.

"It's like that for a reason. Ruby, milk doesn't make your boobs get bigger, that I know of... Weiss, stop getting so upset over something that spilled on you. You've literally had blood and organs spill on you and you didn't complain then, so why are you complaining now?" He asked.

"This was my favorite shirt." She murmured.

"Put another one on." He said.

"All of them are dirty." She said to the side.

"Then grab one of my shirts and put it on." He waved.

"W-what?" She asked.

"Put one of my shirts on. I have like a hundred that I don't wear." He pointed to the closet. She stood there for a quick second with a pink face before steeling herself and putting one of his shirts on and sitting down. It was nice and silent for a while until he spoke up.

"Never knew your bra was blue. By the way, your nipples are showing and what do you know, your boobs have gotten bigger." He said, earning him a smack on his arm, which actually stung a bit.

"Ow." He winced.

"Serves you right." She turned away from him with a red face.

"Hey, now I can say that you're up there with the other three. I've seen all your boobs and I've got to say, their not disappointing to look at." He smirked. Three red faces and three stinging slaps were what he received from them.

"OW! WHAT THE FUCK?!" He shouted.

"Quit commenting about our boobs!" They shouted in unison then slapped him more.

"Stop hitting me!" He shouted again.

"No!" They shouted back in unison and continued to slap him. By the time they were done his arms and neck were red from the continuous assault of their aura infused slaps while their faces were beet red.

"Now all that's left is to see your asses~" He flirted, quickly getting up and running out of the room when their eyes darkened and they curled their hands into fists, glowing with how much aura they were putting into them. He would regret it now but not later.

* * *

"Girls, come on. I was joking." He said. Currently he was strung upside down in Blake's ribbon dangling like a Christmas ornament while the three watched TV. He tried to wiggle his way out but only made the ribbon tighter so he did the next best thing as the blood was beginning to flow to his head; start swing back and forth until they gave up and cut him down. At least then he wouldn't have a fucking hemorrhage from all the blood going to his brain so soon. They continued to ignore him until he started to swing and bump into Blake, hoping she would let him down sooner.

"You keep bumping into me then I'll tighten the grip." She threatened.

"And you do realize I'm going to have a hemorrhage if you don't cut me down, right?" He asked.

"You've been hanging up there for ten minutes, you're fine." She said.

"Fine..." He muttered and continued to bump into her more and more often for the next few minutes until she got fed up and held him in place, staring him in the eyes.

"Walker, if you don't stop bumping into me, I will strangle you." She threatened.

"Then lemme down. I'm tired of hanging upside down and I'm hungry." He said lazily.

"Too bad." She said.

"Fine, no fish for you. Ruby, do you want those cookies?" He asked, seeing her shift a bit at the mention. She always did enjoy it when he made them for her.

"N-no." She stammered.

"Come on... Not for the chocolate caramel ones I make? Or the molasses ones? What about the chocolate chip ones I usually leave out for special occasions? Come on, Ruby. I'll make a batch of forty for you if you cut me down." He bribed.

"I don't know..." She rubbed her arm.

"Ruby, don't listen to him. He's obviously-" Weiss started.

"Weiss, I'll make the sugar cookies you've been hounding me for for the last two months." He chimed in.

"Blake, cut him down." She said.

"What? You're honestly going with Ruby." She stated.

"You don't understand, those cookies are some of the best sugar cookies I've had and I'm not about to pass up this opportunity." Weiss said.

"I highly doubt that." Blake said then widened her eyes when she saw the ribbon cut and Ruby was speedily untangling him while having a cookie deprived expression on her face. He quickly stood up and immediately regretted it when he suddenly felt dizzy and face planted on the ground, giving a thumbs up when they asked if he was alright. Once the blood was evenly distributed throughout he gestured for the two to go ahead and get ready in the kitchen while he saw Blake still sitting there while avoiding his gaze.

"Are you actually mad at me?" He asked, kneeling down.

"Yes." She answered.

"Why?" He asked.

"You already know why." She huffed.

"No, I don't." He countered.

"You acted like Sun, talking about my breasts and their breasts too." She said. He stopped at that answer and thought back to when Sun would constantly follow her around, never leaving her alone when she wanted to and often made comments about her body when she wasn't listening. Granted, he did also but when Sun did it, it was downright creepy.

"That may be true but the difference between me and Sun is that I don't constantly follow you around, I don't look at you with lust like he does, and I most certainly don't wait to see what time you fall asleep like he did." He answered, making her look at him with wide eyes.

"He did that?!" She cried out.

"Past tense, did. He stopped after I threatened him and Neptune. He wanted to push a relationship on you at his pace rather than get to know you and go from their, I prefer to know the girl before I even think about dating her. That's how my dad taught me, get to know the person before you get with them. I flirt because it's all good fun, he flirts because he's thinking with his dick rather than his head." He explained.

"..." She was silent for a minute, making him sigh.

"Look, if you want me to stop then I'll do it. I'm sorry." He apologized.

"It's not that, it's... I don't know..." She sighed.

"You're giving off some mixed signals." He said.

"Shut up." She hissed.

"Whoa, kitty's got fangs." He smirked, wincing when she stood up and scratched him.

"She's also got claws." She shot. It was quiet for a second before he smirked and rubbed that special spot between her ears, making her throw a pout at him.

"Well, come on, Ruby and Weiss aren't going to want to wait on me forever. Plus, I'll make you something special." He held his hand out. She looked at it for a second before smiling and taking it, walking to the kitchen with the others.

* * *

The smell of cookies whisked its way through the house and the sound of music playing in the background was heard, making the atmosphere comfortable. The others had still yet to return and it left only them, the only difference is that Yang was in the dorm house now instead of being at the gym training. She made the mistake of trying to take one of the cookies off the tray but winced when he smacked her hand and gestured for her to go take a shower. Once the cookies were done setting out, he had to hold Ruby's forehead to keep her from inhaling all of them at once instead of eating them individually. Weiss' cookies came out next and she thanked him before placing them in a container for later.

"Walker, this is taking too long." Blake whined as she threw away the head.

"Blake, you and I both know filleting a fish takes time. Each cut can make the difference between a good fish meal and a bad one. Pay attention because if I'm just doing this for nothing, I'm gonna be pissed." He said.

"Fine..." She grumbled.

"After you cut it in half, you need to remove the ribs. It sucks but it's necessary. Don't go too deep or you'll take off some of the flavoring." He advised as he slowly and carefully cut away the ribs. After the ribs were gone and pushed to the side, he cleaned the knife and grabbed another one, sharpening it to the point where even the slightest cut could slice through an object with ease.

"Next thing we're gonna do is cut away the dorsal fin from this. When you do this, you're taking minimum cuts of salmon off." He explained some more. At this point she forgot about complaining and carefully watched him cut the fish up with ease, half of the salmon was ready for further cutting but she couldn't help but look at him. His body was so relaxed yet focused at the same time. She wasn't the only one who was looking at him. Ruby, Weiss, and eventually Yang all gathered around him as he explained more, it always brought a smile to their faces when he was relaxed and enjoyed his time off.

"Flip it around, then think about the proportions; one, two, three, four, five." He counted before cutting them into five clean pieces then grabbing the other half and repeating the process. Ten clean salmon pieces and the girls couldn't help but clap at that.

"Well, it seems we got a master chef here." Yang commented as she watched him get out ingredients.

"Stop." He laughed.

"I'm serious! We've never seen you cook like this before." She gestured.

"Please, remember when I cooked you four that four course meal back in the dorm?" He asked.

"Oh yeah! By the way, can you make those cinnamon rolls again?" Ruby asked.

"Next time. You already got your cookies so..." He trailed off. She kicked her feet like a little kid then watched as he started to prepare the lemon salmon that they enjoyed, but raised their eyebrows when he added more ingredients.

"Something new?" Weiss asked.

"Something my grandma baked when I was a kid. Took me six years to perfect the recipe and I'm hungry so, we're rolling with it." He answered. They hummed in response and sat down in the living room area as he prepared dinner for them, letting the salmon marinate for a while as he cooked Dakos in the meantime, setting the oven to 375 while he made the side dish and looking back and forth between the book and cupboards. His scroll buzzed and he received multiple messages from everyone stating that they were either spending the night in Vale or would be back later. He thought the messages were done but received another one from Tai and Summer stating that they were near the landing pads, making him raise an eyebrow.

Thirty minutes after he put the Dakos on, both parents burst through the door. Their noses were assaulted by the scents and looked over to see Walker putting the fish on a tray while lining it and throwing the final preparations on before setting it in another oven.

"Well I'll be a monkey's uncle, what is that glorious smell?" Tai asked.

"Something called Dakos I saw online, and my grandmother's salmon. By the way, Ruby's heading your way." Walker answered. Said parents barely had time to comprehend the excited squealing of their youngest daughter before being thrown to the ground.

"I'm so excited to see you! Did you miss me?!" She beamed.

"Yep, now can you let us get up?" Tai asked. Vigorous nods and a flurry of rose petals followed soon after before they got up off the ground and said their hellos to the girls before standing next to Walker in the kitchen.

"You two should have told me you were coming sooner. I would have made another batch of salmon for you." He said.

"Ah it's alright. Summer and I aren't that hungry." Tai waved.

"Speak for yourself. That trip was awful, the food was bad, and to top it all off, I got my cloak dirty." She pouted.

"Washer is down the hall, first door on the right and bleach is up in the middle cupboard." He pointed. A trail of white rose petals scattered across the ground and the sound of the washer being started resounded before the lid being slammed shut came after. She must really be angry if she's slamming everything.

"There, now that that's over with, how have you all been?" She dusted her hands off.

"Eh, fine." They all said in unison.

"By the way, you and Ruby do realize your petals don't disappear? Which means I'm stuck sweeping them up." He gestured. Both roses looked at the mess of white and red they made before laughing sheepishly. A few chuckles from everyone else made their faces turn red before they all perked up at the sound of beeping and saw him bring the Dakos our first then the salmon out next, after that he took turned off the burner for the potatoes and greens. Essentially he was making a full course meal. The girls got the place mats out and set them out on the large table before the food was set on the mats in the middle while the boys got the plates and silverware.

"Oh my Oum, I'm finally able to have some good food in my system." Summer sighed in relief when she ate the Dakos. The girls practically melted when they ate the fish, in fact it was so good that they took their time eating it, which made the adults raise their eyebrows.

"Is it that good?" Tai asked.

"You have no idea." Blake shuddered.

"Damn, that really is my grandma's recipe." Walker chuckled.

"I'm almost jealous." Summer commented.

"I can make you two something, it's no big deal." He gestured to the kitchen.

"That's not really necessary-" Tai started.

"Shut up, Tai! Walker, please make us something! I'm hungry and as good as this Dakos is, it's not going to fill me up." She pleaded. Ruby and Yang bit the inside of their cheeks to contain their laughter, as did the other two. Tai had never seen his wife this desperate for food before and frankly, he didn't know how to handle it.

"Alright. Come on, Tai... this meal for you two ain't gonna cook itself." Walker patted the older man's shoulder and went up to the kitchen. Tai's face morphed into one of excitement while Summer's was a mix between happiness and anger. It was really hard to tell because on one hand she was smiling, on the other a tick mark appeared on her forehead. She was about to voice her complaints but smelled the air and her eyes slowly caught sight of one of the cookies Walker made Ruby, what happened next could only be described as comedic as all of them watched mother and daughter fight over a batch of cookies.

"You know, I've never seen Summer after cookies like a hound after blood. What the hell did you put in those?" Tai asked.

"Put caramel along with the chocolate then added some spices. It's basically a mixture between snickerdoodle, chocolate chip, and caramel cookies." Walker shrugged.

"You mind letting me have that recipe for when Summer and I have our moments?" Tai asked.

"I'll be sure to forward you it to your scroll, but for now... let's get this soup done before Summer starts breathing down our necks." Walker whispered, continuing to watch both of the Roses fight over the last cookie.

* * *

An hour later and Summer and Tai couldn't be any happier with the food that was entering their stomachs. They never knew Cajun Crab Soup was so good, especially this late at night, it was almost like eating a forbidden fruit. Tai was happy he was finally able to cook after so long, Summer was practically gulping her soup down, and the girls were helping him clean up the kitchen before sitting down. There was a massive pot of the soup left over for anyone in case they came in late and boy was he glad he made that much. Not even fifteen minutes after it was made, JNPR came in the door craving food more than anything.

"I take it you're all hungry?" He asked the four.

"Yes." Jaune answered.

"You know me so well Robot man." Nora held her stomach.

"Most definitely." Pyrrha nodded.

"Yep." Ren hummed.

"You might as well eat something then." Walker gestured to the pot. The four looked at it and swarmed it, getting as much as their bowls could fill and began to eat while they sat down. If anybody was more than happy to eat it, it would be Ren, he hasn't had this since he was a boy and it brought back heartwarming and heartbreaking memories.

"Is that Dakos?" Pyrrha pointed out a tad bit excitedly.

"Yep, you know it?" He asked.

"Are you kidding, Walker? That right there is my favorite food from Mistral." She said.

"Then you four might as well dust it off." He replied as he handed them the bowl. She was all too eager to eat something from home while the boys just ate what they could, but Nora refused and continued to eat the soup, or rather slurp it. Everyone in the room sighed contently as their stomachs were filled and they felt tired, he could only laugh at their state and checked the time. It was eleven-thirty and some of the other had yet to return.

"Where's everyone else?" He asked.

"CRD(L) are staying in a hotel in Vale, CFVY are at a restaurant, NDGO are on their way back, and everyone else is probably doing something on campus." Jaune answered.

"Alright then, glad to know you all aren't bored." Walker commented. He got a few chuckles and they all talked for a while, exchanging jokes and even playing a game or two. Times like these reminded him of when he was younger, when he was full of happiness instead of anger and insanity.

"Walker, where are we going next?" Ruby asked.

"We're moving out to the new base next month then being deployed in either Mistral or Menagerie." He answered. Blake suddenly choked on her food and began coughing, making him pat her back until she stopped, which lasted a minute.

"Are you okay?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah..." She wheezed out hoarsely. She could handle the fact that they were moving and what not but what she couldn't handle was the fact that they could possibly be shipped out to her home, how the hell was she supposed to explain to her parents about her disappearance and about him?!

"Where's your base at?" Tai asked.

"Out at sea, middle of the ocean and is over some granite so the grubs can't dig through." Walker answered.

"Okay, but where?" Summer asked.

"That much is classified, sorry." He apologized.

"I have a feeling there's more of a backstory to why you won't tell us." Tai sighed.

"Training will do that to you." Walker leaned back.

"Actually... what kind of training did you have when you were a kid?" Jaune asked.

"Had basic and Onyx level shortly after. I considered the Onyx training as my AIT." Walker answered.

"Onyx?" Blake asked.

"Swear on my life that none of you will ever tell a single soul about this." He pointed.

"It can't be that serious-" Tai waved, like it was nothing.

"Swear it!" Walker raised his voice. On second thought, it was if he was interrupting. He saw them all give nods before sighing, the Onyx Guards were wiped out but he made a sacred vow never to speak of them because that's what they would've wanted, to be unknown until their dissolution.

"The Onyx Guards were legends, at least in my eyes, they were. They were practically ghosts when they ran their ops and often would leave nothing to trace them by. Skilled in both front line assault and behind enemy lines, they were a force to be reckoned with. They even had their own tank battalions, air wings, and even troop regiments. A squad of Onyx guards could take out a settlement full of bandits and leave nothing behind, all in a single night." He described.

"So you mean to tell me, we have Onyx Guard training?" Ruby asked with stars in her eyes.

"No. What you all have is basic training." He said, making them deflate. "Chin up, basic training is still special forces training in Remnant's terms. Look on the bright side though, it sure as hell paid off." He chuckled.

"We want Onyx Guard training though!" Nora claimed.

"No, you don't." He denied.

"Yep! I'd ace it!" She boasted.

"Not to sound like a dick, but you all could barely stand basic, Onyx training would eat you alive and shit you out." He pointed.

"As if." She waved. He looked at her for a second before clicking his tongue and chuckling then leaning back in his seat.

"Alright, if you all want it that bad then who am I to disagree? Here's the catch though, you last an hour of Onyx Guard training and maybe, just maybe, I might consider training you all." He said.

"Do you really mean it?!" Nora and Ruby asked excitedly. Everyone else sweat dropped through, they knew they could barely handle basic training and the way he described the famed Onyx members, it was going to be literal hell.

"Yes, I hope you all are ready for real hell because I've got a shit ton of it stored in this skull of mine." He tapped the side of his helmet.

"We're gonna be Onyx Guards! We're gonna be Onyx Guards!" They both cheered.

"If you pass the hour. I never said how long they trained for." He smirked, making them stop.

"How long do they train for?" Weiss paled at the thought of more training.

"Three hours on a good day, four on a bad." He answered. The sound of chairs scrapping across the floor made him look to see them all slump in their seats, except the adults, and groan loudly.

"That suuuuuuuuuucks!" Nora drawled.

"You all wanted to be Onyx Guards so we're doing the training to see if you qualify." He retorted. Groans were what he got in return and he hushed them before checking the time to see it was midnight and he sighed before standing up and placing the soup in the fridge.

"Where are you going?" Blake asked.

"I'm going to bed. Summer, what do you want your cloak on?" He put the cloak in the dryer and closed the door.

"Sixty minutes please!" She answered. The sound of a knob turning and the dryer tumbling was heard before they bid him a goodnight. Shortly after he closed the door, Tai and JNPR retired to their rooms, leaving the girls alone. Summer's face was facing the hallway before turning back to the four with a sly grin.

"So, which one of you does he belong to?" She asked slyly.

"Mom!" Ruby screamed, covering her face.

"Come on, Ruby. You and I both know he holds a special place in all your hearts, so which one claimed him first?" Summer asked.

"Uhhhhhh, you know what? I think I should go to bed, goodnight guys." Weiss said before walking to the room quickly.

"I'm with her, goodnight." Blake said quickly before speeding to the room.

"Night mom, love you." Yang said as she gave her mother a quick hug before going to the room, leaving the little reaper with her mother.

"Now that we're alone, girl talk." Summer rubbed her hands together. Ruby screamed loudly and tried to use her semblance to dash away but Summer had used her's also to bring Ruby back to the table. Needless to say, there was a very embarrassed Reaper and a very ecstatic mother left in the kitchen that night.

* * *

"Are you serious?!" Ruby bounced on her feet excitedly.

"Yes, I'm serious." Walker nodded as he rolled the crate back to the armory. Her excited squealing made his ears ring but he brushed it off and gestured for her to open the door for him while he rolled the crate in before going back and getting the other one. Pretty soon they finally entered the room where their armor was at and he opened the crate with a crowbar before setting it on the ground and throwing the lid off. He reached inside and grabbed the first helmet. There were three designs of helmets that he drew for the engineers in Atlas, from then they pretty much provided what they could as far as technology for his Gears. The helmets were like the ones he had seen back on Sera with four variants and could be customized how they saw fit.

"Go on and pick your helmet before we go and get the other crates." He gestured. After he said that, she quickly zoomed up to the crate and bounced on her feet while looking at the various helmets. A few minutes of thinking and she picked the first variant for the female and looked at it.

"Keep in mind that in order to get different helmets you'll have to pay for them. Otherwise, take care of your helmet, it can be your best friend." He said. She nodded at him before flipping it around and slowly putting it on, it was dark for a few seconds before she yelped in pain when a sudden surge rocketed throughout her body and the helmet flickered on.

"What was that?!" She shouted.

"Your aura. Atlas gave me an idea, your helmet is in a sense bonded to you, only you and whoever you choose can access it. Anyone unauthorized tries to retrieve any data from it and the helmet will purge its systems, rendering it useless." He explained. There were stars in her eyes when she heard that.

"That's so cool! It's like one of those spy movies with the gadgets and everything." She beamed.

"Yep, now come on, you can get familiar with the systems as we get the rest from the bullhead." He patted her shoulder then walked by. Both of them quickly strode out the door and walked back to the bullhead with their helmets on, Ruby had a bounce in her step as she looked around and saw everything so advanced. He saw the delivery bullhead pilot come out and roll the remaining crates off before handing a clipboard to Walker, who signed it then handed it back, before going back on the vehicle and taking off. As he was rolling the crates he saw everyone walking back to the dorm house before catching sight of him and Ruby.

"Whoa! Ruby, where'd you get the helmet!?" Nora asked as she circled around her.

"The helmets came in, isn't it cool?!" She answered excitedly.

"Do we get helmets?" Ren asked.

"They're in these crates and the ones in the armory are too. Come on so we can get you all situated." Walker said as he rolled the remaining crates back into the armory. They followed him into the armory and watched him crack open the other crates and peer inside to see the helmets in pristine condition, gesturing for them to gather around.

"So, these are the signature icon for the Gears?" Jaune asked.

"Hell if I know, but pick your helmets before I set them aside for the newer Gears." He instructed. Each one looked at one another before rushing to see what the variants are, a majority of them picked the ones that resembled his while some of the others went with the other four variants. After he explained to them about purchasing different helmets, he then watched in amusement as the helmets took a chunk of their aura in order to essentially "bond" to them.

They helped him put the helmets away for the newer Gears then walked out of the armory, a message was sent to their scrolls stating where they'd be deployed next. A certain faunus felt her ears flatten against her head.

"Menagerie?" Cardin asked.

"Yep, seems the locust found something there. I intend to find out what it is and take it from them." He answered before turning towards the approaching bullhead. "Otherwise, grab your sun hats and pack your bags, we're headed to paradise." He said.

One thought popped into Blake's head at that moment.

 _'I'm so screwed.'_ She sweatdropped before following the others.

* * *

 **Well holy shit on a biscuit, I'm so fucking sorry for not posting this sooner. But what better way then to post it on my absolute favorite holiday of the year? I've been wondering how you all are lately, if good then kudos to you, if not... try and PM me and I'll try to make you feel better. Keyword, _try._ Other than that I have come to answer the reviews you all have posted, so let's get right into them bitches.**

 **Diamond Marine: Thank you very much, I hope I can keep your interest till the story ends.**

 **sebitor: I'm glad you compare my story to a drink, thank you though.**

 **Jkdelta38: I felt the same, otherwise thanks.**

 **DigitalPh33r Fan: Of course man, Emile's death hit me right in the dick.**

 **Blaze1992: Haven't thought of that, thanks for asking about it.**

 **Keep1n1ntFr0st1e: Thanks**

 **Phazonic Steel: Thank you.**

 **If you don't like the story, then politely leave, I know I'm not the best but hey, I try. By the way, consider this uploaded on Halloween because that's when I finished it and uploaded it but FanFiction is a cunt sometimes and doesn't upload immediately, so happy Halloween!**


	20. Chapter 20: Unpleasant Greetings

A month had passed by and everyone was waiting at the docks except for Walker, he was currently standing at the door while in his ceremonial uniform was hugging his frame. He was currently at Ash's house in the suburbs of Vale, waiting for the pilot to open the door. The doorbell was rang and a nice chime resonated from the inside and eventually made it to the outside and into his ears. There was shuffling that made him raise an eyebrow before the door swung open and three faces popped up in the door. All of them blinked at him before their faces turned to one of shock then of excitement before the boy called out into the house.

"Dad! He's here!" He shouted. He turned his gaze back to the legend before them and quickly stuck his hand out, while the pair of twin girls did the same.

"Sir, you have no idea how much I've wanted to meet you." He said quickly. His brown eyes showed immense respect towards his idol and his eyes seemed to bulge so much that they almost broke his glasses.

"Nice to meet you too, kid. Ash talks a lot about you." Walker replied.

"W-wait, he does?!" The twin on the left said. Her hair was cut short and had a tinge of white in it while her fair skin gleamed in the lights.

"Every time I get on, he talks about you guys. Never shuts up about you three." He answered as he shook each of their hands.

"What does he say?!" The twin on the right asked. Unlike her counterpart, her hair was curly and while her skin had the same complexion as her twin.

"Mainly talks about how much he enjoys being around you three. Told me that you want to be a pilot like your father, you want to be a combat photographer, and you want to become an engineer. Keep up with those goals, they lead to some good job opportunities." He pointed to each child. Stars appeared in their eyes, their idol knew of their dreams? This had to be a dream, no way in hell one of the most lethal soldier on the planet was this nice and encouraged their dreams. Their thoughts were cut short when Ash appeared around the kitchen corner with his wife in tow, both had a look of surprise on their faces.

Ash's brown hair was combed back and his face was freshly shaved while he wore his ceremonial uniform with a patch of a skull with wings on the sides seemed to gleam proudly in the light. The scent of cologne was evident in the air that almost matched Walker's in terms of strength.

His wife had her hair in a ponytail while her white dress shirt and black pants seemed to hug her figure, a pair of glasses were in her hand before she flicked them open and pushed them on her face snugly, they seemed to match perfectly with the structure of her face. Needless to say, they were a good looking couple in his opinion.

"Holy shit, when did you get here?" Ash asked.

"Got here a few minutes ago." Walker answered.

"Well, guess it's that time. Oh! Before I forget, I want to introduce you to my family, get over here you three." Ash called to his children. "This little shit is Winston, takes after my good looks, the twin on the left is Abigail and will try to take as many pictures as she can with you, the twin on the right if Maria and keep wary of her, she will sneak something in your pocket, and finally my wife, Trisha." He introduced. All of them greeted him politely while he gave a firm handshake in return, introducing himself also and giving each one a compliment.

"So, where exactly is he being deployed?" Trisha asked.

"Unfortunately, it's classified but I can tell you that it's in the middle of the sea and on some granite so the grubs can't dig underneath us." He assured.

"It's just like the spy movies." Winston whispered.

"You're right about that, but as much as I would like to properly greet you all and get to know you, we need to get a move on." Walker said.

"Wait! Before you two go, can we at least take a picture?" Abigail asked while holding up a camera.

"I assume a couple are for your friends?" He asked.

"Well that too but mainly because we won't see dad for the next several months..." She said.

"I don't care how many you take, so long as you take some good ones to keep holding on to something." He said. She fist pumped in the air and ushered them into a group, a wide grin as she took many pictures of the five of them. She took more pictures where it was either Ash and his family all huddled together or it was Walker with the children giving a thumbs up. The last picture she took was meant for all six of them as she was in the front with her arms spread wide and everyone crowded around her, giving a thumbs up or smiling. That one was definitely a keeper as quickly put away the camera and stood at the door as she and the others watched their father and husband walk alongside Walker towards a black SUV, watching both get in the back seats and waved towards him as he rolled down the window and gave them one last wave while the vehicle drove away.

The drive was comfortable as both watched the city's building pass by and the cars drive by them. Walker brought out a tablet and began looking at the screen to see everything in place and switched tabs to check up on everything else. While he was doing that, Ash was busy just admiring the stable part of the city, hoping that whatever was out at base was worth being sent halfway across the world. Minutes turned to tens of minutes as the drive continued and both parties were busy doing their own thing before Ash spoke up.

"So when exactly are we leaving?" He asked.

"We're in the air in the next hour and a half but I picked you up early because I want to half you pilot the drop ship to the new base. Not to mention that code I gave you earlier this week is what keeps us from getting shot down." Walker answered.

"Wait, shot down?! How many anti-air guns do you have?" Ash exclaimed.

"Enough to take down half a fleet full of Atlas ships. Sensors surrounding the waters pick up both Locust and enemy air vehicles from up to twenty miles away, giving us enough time to prepare. There's also the fact that I'm purchasing knights from Atlas to act as basic security or cleaning bots." Walker said nonchalantly.

"Why as basic security? Why not as Gears without the cost of human life?" Ash asked.

"Robots can be hacked, Robots can turn on their creators at any given moment, Robots can be your best friend one second then flip the script the next. Not to mention, being a Gear takes decisions, decisions that make us who we are. I would happily have a hundred Gears than several hundred robots acting as Gears." Walker said.

"Not many where you're from?" The pilot asked.

"No. We were just pure flesh and bone. What made us ruthless warriors was our will to live." Walker answered before turning back to the tablet and finalizing a contract. Atlas may be ahead in technology and its military but the Gears won as far as fighting capability. The twenty or so Marines that turned to Gears that were there only answer to him, doing only missions he authorized. Ironwood realized this a little too late after he sent almost a hundred more soldiers to become Gears, even this was a shock to Ozpin when he realized how much power Walker held and would receive in the next several months. Gears were officially soldiers without a kingdom, they operated wherever they wanted and didn't have to answer to anybody but their commander and commanding officers. In fact, multiple PMC companies tried to compete but were quickly failing when kingdoms started to slowly realize how efficient Gears were becoming. It also didn't help that most of their operations were barely spoken about, those that were often peaked the interest of certain individuals.

The only drawback to becoming a Gear was to become one, you were essentially becoming more than a soldier, you were becoming a weapon. Trained in all aspects of warfare and both mentally and physically to the peak of perfection. It was something feared by all kingdoms when they sent volunteers to become Gears, they were not a certain lot you would want to be on the receiving end of. There were rumors of them doing more than just simple Locust exterminations; there were rumors of them doing assassinations, Search and Rescue, HVT hunting, and as security. Most of them were true but there was one thing the public didn't know and didn't need to know, almost half of their assassinations were of White Fang that were either becoming too dangerous or were already dangerous to ignore. There's also the method of obtaining that certain information on more cells that was frowned upon in all kingdoms.

The only person who had access to all this information was him, Ozpin nor Ironwood had any power over him the moment he moved out into sea and it was too late for them to try and come to a compromise with him. Ironwood made the mistake of making a poorly hidden threat about if he were to go off the rails, Walker responded with calm reply of, "If you so happen to threaten my Gears, I'll personally make my way to Atlas and slaughter hundreds of your men,". The scary thing was that both men knew he was capable of doing so, they had seen the footage of him killing dozens of high-ranking Locust and their troops with ease. Glynda seemed to set all three of them straight by stating that they all had jobs to do and should stop acting like alphas in a pissing match.

"Hey kid?" Ash asked.

"Yeah?" Walker asked back as he was still looking at the tablet.

"I'm really hungry." Ash said.

"You didn't eat before I got there?" Walker asked.

"No." Ash sighed. Walker sighed a bit before turning to the driver and telling him to pull into a nearby fast food place. Just as he was about to order for just them, his scroll buzzed and he looked down to see it was Ruby... asking him if he could pick up food for everyone.

"How the fuck did they even know?!" He exclaimed.

* * *

They all owed him over two-hundred lien in total for getting them something to eat, he made that clear when they all boarded the ship and sat in their seats with their food on their laps. Four hours passed by and right now everyone was either sleeping while they waited for the ride to end. Instead of being in the co-pilot's seat, Walker was sitting in one of the seats while Blake leaned on his shoulder while reading a book. Ruby was playing a game on her scroll while Yang brushed her hair and Weiss was sleeping along with a majority of them. He was busy looking at a couple of videos in his helmet, completely unaware to the outside world and didn't see Ruby slowly slink in front of his face.

"Walker." She poked his helmet, making him shut the video off and turn to her.

"Yes..." He answered calmly.

"I'm bored." She whined.

"I can't do anything about that" He said.

"You can tell me a story." She said.

"You've heard nearly all the stories I'm comfortable with telling." He replied.

"Well... well then do something with me." She retorted.

"No, just go to sleep." He said.

"That's hard." She pouted.

"I could choke you out like I did to Blake." He gestured. A slap on his chest made him look at the faunus, who still had her gaze on her book.

"That's not my kink." She retorted, making him whip his head towards her while Yang looked at her wide-eyed.

"What?" He blinked.

"Yeah, I agree with Walker. What?" Yang deadpanned.

"I'm not allowed to have a kink? Blake has a spanking kink, Yang has hair pulling, and Weiss has a thing for being submissive." Ruby gestured. Blake's face turned a deep scarlet while Yang's did also as she turned away.

"You have a kink?" He asked.

"Yep." She nodded.

"Passionate? Enjoys being spoiled when in bed? Given massages?" He listed.

"All three of those..." She nodded before widening her eyes when he listed all three. "How did you know?!" She questioned.

"I've been around you girls long enough to know what your kinks are. Didn't know that Yang enjoyed hair pulling, good to know." He gestured. A sharp ring rang out when she threw a shell at him and turned away.

"Asshole." She muttered.

"I'd stick it in your ass." He retorted, shielding himself when Yang started to slap him repeatedly while throwing profanities. It was a good thing they were the only ones up now or else the blonde hothead would have been red as a tomato, which she was right now.

"Anyways! Are we headed to the base first, or Menagerie?" Blake chimed in.

"Base. We're going to Menagerie next week so it should give us enough time to get settled in." He answered. They all seemed content with that and sat in silence for the next hour before Ruby spoke up again.

"How much did it cost?" She asked.

"Total? Six million, and that's after taxes. Believe you me, this base... it almost reminds me of Jacinto." He said softly. They were about to ask if he was okay before Ash spoke up and woke the rest of them up.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if you would kindly wake up and smell the roses, you'd be able to see our new home for a while." He said. Most of them yawned and stretched a bit as they waited for the ship to land before the door slowly descended and they were met with the glare of the sun. All of them stepped out and waited for their eyes to adjust before their eyes widened at the area around them. Him saying this was a simple base was an entirely big understatement. The place was huge.

The command platform was the center one and had a huge tower acting as the brain of the base and would branch off to other sections via long bridges. To the northeast of it was a long bridge that connected to another platform, which in turn would be as the combat platform that held the arena and training grounds while also acting as barracks. A small section of the combat platform had a rec center for Gears to spend some down time in. To the northwest was the R&D platform where they would develop new items for the Gears, communication and intelligence was to the southwest, and the medical bay was to the southeast. They could tell by the size of the base that it would easily hold over a battalion, probably more judging by how much he talked about expansion. Whirring to their left made them all look to see a cargo area with shipping containers being stacked, no doubt holding supplies. The massive guns on the corners of the base were on the swivel, scanning for threats to shoot down.

"Holy shit..." Cardin muttered.

"Holy shit is right. Come on, I'll show you where you'll all be staying." He said, leading them over to the combat platform. There were multiple jeeps lined up and they all managed to get in and drive towards the platform. The girls were amazed by the sights that this place held and smiled when the warm air brushed against their skin, Ruby peered over the edge and saw that thick pillars held the base high above the waters to avoid the waves from crashing against the buildings. Warm wind was blown in their face as they drove for the next two minutes while the sunny sky seemed to glow at them. When they reached the platform, they couldn't help but feel at home, this place wasn't like the bases they would go around and stay at, it was their new home.

"Walker, I know you said this cost six million but about the other platforms?" Ruby asked.

"Combat, communications and intelligence, medical, and R&D cost around three-hundred thousand each. So in total? This entire base cost seven million two-hundred thousand lien." He answered. A thump was heard and they all turned to see Nora on the ground while Ren was trying to get her up.

"Boss, this is..." Nebula trailed off.

"Insane just like it's owner? Yes, it is. Best part about it is that where close enough to be shipped to other kingdoms while remaining completely off the radar. No one but us know the exact location." He explained.

"Man..." Jaune looked around. He didn't know why but he felt that he belonged here, there was always something about military bases that called to him as much as becoming a huntsman.

"Yep, well we need to get your luggage to get settled in. You can explore when you're done." Walker said as he started walking towards the jeep.

"This is so cool!" Ruby squealed.

"Yeah, now let's move it because I want to get something to eat. By the way, you shit bags owe be two hundred lien worth of food." He cursed at them. They smiled at his retreating figure before looking off towards the ocean and listened to the waves. He truly did pick a beautiful place to settle.

* * *

One week had passed by and they all were on the bullhead, some of them were excited to be visiting Menagerie while one in particular was actually quite nervous, so much that her ears twitched every once in a while, more often than they should. Blake was scared that her return would stir up old wounds or open new ones because the last time she left... let's just say her parents and her didn't see eye to eye on a certain subject which forced her to leave. Their armor was like Walker's but different, the males' matched his while the females' had a more snug fit on their torso to avoid deterring their maneuverability. She looked at her helmet for a few minutes before flipping it around and gazing at the darkness inside then slowly putting it on. It flickered on and she let her eyes adjust to the lighting before leaning back in her seat then looking around the ship. Everyone had their helmets on and could only look around at one another before hearing the buzzing noise and turn to the bay door.

"You seem nervous, Blake." Yang said.

"A little. Last time I was here my parents and I... we didn't exactly leave on good terms." She muttered.

"Well, for what it's worth. If they give you any shit then you always have a place back at base." Yang smiled. Blake smiled then laughed softly when Ruby brought out the swear jar before she turned her gaze towards Walker. He was their jack of all trades; capable of piloting, leading, teaching, comforting, and fighting. She didn't know where they'd all be if he hadn't trained them. But... she couldn't help but feel guilty she never told him about her parents and the rolls they partook.

"When we land, we grab our shit for the camp then head there." He spoke up.

"What about the chieftain?" Jaune asked.

"After we get set up. He already knows where coming and cleared the way for us." Walker answered. The ship landed roughly and the bay doors opened, they grabbed their bags for the camp and stepped out, being met with a sea of eyes. He led them through the people and politely excused them as they made their way towards the camp, ignoring the glances people sent their way. In order to avoid confrontation they had their weapons on their backs while the duffel bags of supplies they carried contained everything they needed.

The people of the village knew that these so called "Gears" were coming to provide security but they couldn't help but feel... wary around them. The way they moved, they way they ignored the attention to them, even the weapons on their back screamed the term killer. They started to walk towards the chieftain's home but made a sharp turn on the first trail on the left, going to a secluded behind the house. A lot of the citizens finally let out a breath they didn't know they were holding, their gazes mainly following Walker.

All of them knew the inhabitants were watching them, judging them for their reputation but they didn't know them at all. None of these people have had to deal with the Locust fortunately, so they didn't know the severity of the threat. After five more minutes of walking, they finally managed to find the spot to set up the tents. It was a small area near a cliff that was enough to hold two tents, each holding half of them. Not a word was said as they all began to set up the tents for a while, only tossing each other the necessary tools to set up before placing their belongings inside, next to their temporary beds. Guys were in one tent, the girls occupied the other.

"Walker walked out of the tent with Ciel and Penny in tow and gestured to the area around them.

"Set up cameras in our blind spots. We don't want any threats catching us off guard." He instructed. Both of them nodded and reached inside their bags and brought out six round cameras that stuck to the surfaces, placing them where only they knew of and kept an eye on the camp.

It took a while but eventually everyone was settled in and wanted nothing than to relax after the flight, something he would grant them. While they were relaxing on their cots he was at the cliff's edge, sitting down as he wrote in his journal. He's been logging down the current events, both good and bad. It was a habit of his that always stuck to him ever since he enlisted, and he was glad that he kept the habit because there were a lot of good things that he's forgotten but the journal in his hands haven't. He was so focused on his journal that he didn't notice Blake coming up behind him until she was right next to him, making him jump slightly in surprise and make the pencil fly out of his hand... and down the cliff.

"Shit..." He muttered.

"Sorry." She apologized.

"It's good. I've about had enough writing for the day anyways." He waved and closed the journal, stuffing it behind him and standing up.

"Can I ask you something?" She asked.

"Sure." He nodded.

"Would you like to... would you like to..." She couldn't finish her sentence for some reason.

"You're nervous." He observed.

"How can you tell?" She snapped suddenly, making her regret it though when she saw his fists clench tightly then release.

"You're body is stiff, both cat ears are flicking around more often, and you keep avoiding your gaze. In fact, you've been acting like this since I announced we'd be stationed here." He said.

"Look, I just... I'm nervous that my parents won't like you." She whispered.

"... That's your reason for acting all nervous?" He asked.

"Yes." She answered.

"I'm going to assume your parents are important people?" He asked again.

"Yes." She nodded.

"How important?" He asked.

"My dad is... my dad is the chieftain." She managed to spit out.

"Well..." He clicked his tongue, "I uh, certainly didn't expect that." He chuckled. It was silent for a while before he looked at the trail and clapped his hands together, gesturing her to follow as they walked towards the biggest house on the island. Her helmet was off and it drew a lot of eyes towards the two as the people began whispering to one another, they hadn't seen the Belladonna child in years and suddenly she shows up with unknown company.

He wasn't too bothered by the whispers but it was beginning to annoy him, these people flinched when he looked at them yet they had no problem whispering behind his back. People like those were the ones he usually left behind or didn't acknowledge when they tried to speak to him. The two walked back to the house at a good pace and enjoyed the scenery, while doing their best to not be bothered. Eventually after a couple of minutes they managed to finally reach the massive wooden doors.

"You know, if you would have told me sooner I would have put some cologne on." He commented.

"Don't you already have cologne on?" She looked back at him.

"Barely, fucking Jaune took mine and used up most of it. That alone cost around sixty lien." He mumbled.

"I'm sure you'll manage." She rolled her eyes and smiled before turning back to the massive door and knocked on it a few times. She backed up and waited in silence for a minute before both perked up when the door creaked open and a face peeked out. The woman looked to be in her forties with tanned skin. Her cat ears had three piercings in total - two on her right, one on her left. She was wearing a black hakama with sandals and white socks. One of her black shrug was long while the other was short. Her warmers extended to her middle fingers where a gold bangles wrapped around snugly her wrists. The most prominent feature would be her face, which mirrored her long lost daughter.

"Blake?" She asked softly.

"Hi, mom." She said sheepishly. Her eyes widened when her mother came forward and engulfed her in a hug.

"My baby girl." The woman stroked her daughter's head. Blake's eyes were wide before she closed them and hugged her mother back.

"Kali? Who is it?" A broad voice called out from within the house. Both women turned around to see a large, muscular man with a long beard and yellow eyes. His large overcoat had a white fur trim on it that exposed his hair chest. On the shoulder of his coat is a silver metal spaulder, which through a pair of curved strips across the chest attaches as a clasp on the opposite front panel of the coat. His eyes were stern at the start but they softened when he saw his only daughter at the door along with his wife. Both were overjoyed with happiness and all three met in the front foyer in a hug. Silently crying tears of joy as they embraced.

Walker was still outside, another tug on his heart made him reach in his pocket and pull out the locket. It had his parents and an infant him on the left side in a house while the right side had a picture of the three of them next to a tree in their backyard, this time when he was around six. He hated family reunions sometimes, everyone else had parents but him. His father killed by a raider in front of him while his mother turned to ash in his arms, all before he could reach adulthood. A few tears slipped down his face and his vision started to warp, taking his mind somewhere else. He barely registered his name being called then snapped to attention when he saw Blake looking at him, in fact all three of them were looking at him.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Me? I'm fine, just enjoying the scenery." He lied, stuffing the locket in his pocket. She could see through his lies easily, she could tell he was having a moment like he did when Jaune reunited with his family. He always did something that made him subconsciously bring out something of his own, whether it be a picture of Ajay or that locket of his parents, he always did something without realizing it.

He quickly went up to the couple and stuck his hand out, both were taken aback at how friendly he was, assuming he was a gruff soldier like the ones from Atlas. Out of the two of them only Ghira felt how calloused his hands were, these weren't ones from small time deeds but of years of hardships that made them like that. Neither one of them could ignore the scars that littered the boy's body, making him look like walking puzzle, a majority of them eerily looked like bullet wounds. His helmet gleamed brightly against the lighting and those glowing blue portholes keeping the identity hidden. It wasn't only hiding his face, it was also hiding a deep, tragic story of a boy forged in war and suffering. Someone who had lost his innocence after his second firefight, forever doomed in an endless cycle of rage and insanity.

"First Lieutenant, Walker Ronin." He greeted politely.

"You were in the military?" Ghira asked.

"Yes sir." Walker confirmed.

"Yet, how did you create the famed Gears then?" Kali asked. The Gears weren't unknown to Menagerie, they peaked a lot of people's interests due to their actions being labeled as 'unknown' by most.

"Ozpin helped me." He answered.

"Is that so?" Ghira asked with calculating eyes.

"Absolutely." Walker lied smoothly. Ghira saw through the lie, he knew of Walker Ronin and what he did in Atlas. He knew how dangerous the boy really was. People like him don't go unnoticed, there was a hidden bloodlust that flooded his nose. Much like Adam. If he could, he would try to not have another repeat of his daughter associating with another potentially dangerous person. The only difference between him and Adam was that Adam was always talking about people pay from a young age, but as far as he knew, the boy in front of him could be another violence driven person.

"You mind letting go of my hand?" Walker asked. Ghira wondered what he was talking about until he looked down and saw that his massive hand was still in Walker's, he also noticed how strong the grip was.

"My apologies." He said as he let go of the hand.

"It's fine." Walker waved off. There was an awkward silence as the four just stood in the foyer before Kali suddenly spoke up.

"Alright, I think it's time for tea! Come on, Blake. We have a lot to catch up on." She said, leaving the two men alone. Once the girls left, Ghira turned to Walker, sizing him up while Walker just kept his gaze on the retreating female figures.

"I'd appreciate it if you stop looking at them." Ghira said.

"Then stop looking at me like I'm a threat." Walker retorted.

"Last time Blake had a boy over, she went into the White Fang and he turned violent." Ghira crossed his arms.

"As I've told your daughter, I'm not that fiend Adam." Walker countered.

"So you know of him?" Ghira narrowed his eyes.

"Adam Taurus, current high-ranking member of the White Fang. Nicknamed the "Red Death" due to how many lives he's taken in order to give this so called justice. His crimes range from Arson, robbery, extortion, murder, and countless other actions that make Roman Torchwick look like a saint." Walker briefed quickly, then looked at Ghira to see he had that same calculating gaze from the moment the girls left.

"Yes." He said.

"I also know of you." Walker said, making the chieftain step back in surprise.

"You do?" He asked.

"Ghira Belladonna, the previous White Fang leader before stepping down when he realized that peaceful protests were not going anywhere, thus handing over his leadership to a very antagonistic Sienna Khan. I also know you're the current chieftain of the continent known as Menagerie, home of a majority of the faunus population, yet a vast majority of the island is uninhabitable for some reason." Walker briefed again.

"Yet, all I know of you is that you're an eighteen year old boy who is in control of the world's most powerful PMC and has training that surpasses Atlas by leagues." Ghira said.

"I'm almost nineteen but that's correct." Walker nodded. The two men were cast into silence again while staring at one another, both wouldn't back down and were too stubborn to even think about it. Ghira's arms were crossed as he looked down at the muscular eighteen year old, while Walker just looked at his friend's father with a flat expression.

"You said that you're here to exterminate these..." Ghira trailed off as he was trying to think of the word.

"Locust, Grubs, Genocidal Beings, it doesn't matter what you call them." Walker seethed. It wasn't unnoticed how ill he spoke of them. Who could blame him? All his life he's been hearing about the Locust and the damage they do, yet nobody had done something about it until Marcus Fenix did.

"I've heard rumors that you specialize in combating them." Ghira said.

"Yes. Mainly the reason why we're here. It was either here or Mistral." Walker said.

"... I guess I have been rather rude when meeting you." Ghira sighed after a few minutes.

"I've literally been shot at for a greeting. You're not the worst greeter ever." Walker said. All the older man could do was raise an eyebrow at the younger man before him, so far nothing really struck out negative aside from his appearance and the fact that he hasn't taken off the helmet. Just as he finished his thoughts, Kali came in with a tray of tea with Blake not far behind her.

"Tea's ready." She smiled.

* * *

All of them sat down at the table drinking the tea. Only Ghira and Kali weren't really drinking as they were too busy watching Walker drink with his helmet tilted up, Blake didn't seem too bothered by it and just drank her tea in silence. Both parents thought that he would at least take off the helmet but no, he just tilted it upwards and silently sipped his tea. His weapons were still on him and he made no effort to remove them from his back.

"So you... never take it off?" Kali asked.

"Nope." He answered.

"Not even when you sleep?" She asked.

"I shouldn't say I don't take it off, but so much as I would rather have it on at all times. Think of it as a wedding ring, you take it everywhere you go." He answered.

"Doesn't it get hot?" She asked.

"At times, but I've learned to deal with it." He shrugged.

"But-" Kali tried before Blake politely interrupted her.

"Mom, when I say he never takes it off in front of people, I'm serious." She said.

"So no one's seen your face?" Ghira raised an eyebrow.

"Nope." Walker answered. He tilted his helmet down and reached over to grab some more tea, pouring it in silence and getting a few sugar cubes and dropping them in.

"Do you mind telling us a bit about yourself?" Kali asked.

"Not much. Was born in a decent home, had loving parents, went to school, then to the military, earned rank, and fought the locust." He listed briefly.

"There's more to that. There's no way someone your age could reach the rank of Lieutenant in the span of a year then become one of the biggest commanders in the PMC business." Ghira countered.

"We all have our secrets, Mr. Belladonna. I have mine and you have yours, let's keep it at that." Walker said calmly.

"Secrets that could be dangerous to our daughter." Ghira said.

"I'm not like that bastard, Adam. I don't go around killing people because I got the short end of the straw." Walker said.

"I was never comparing you to him." Ghira gestured.

"But you keep referencing me to him. You stated earlier that the last male she brought to your home was him. You call me dangerous yet you don't know a damn thing about me. I have my secrets because they're dangerous to numerous people and I don't feel like discussing them." Walker countered.

"We were never calling you dangerous, Mr. Ronin." Kali said. She noticed how he didn't even acknowledge her and just kept staring at her husband, who stared back.

"You don't like me. You simply don't like me because I know your daughter." Walker stated simply.

"That's not true." Ghira narrowed his eyes.

"It is true. Fun fact, you know I've know your daughter for the past two years? You know I got her not to care about being open about being a faunus? Bet you didn't know I pulled a seven inch piece of metal out of her stomach to save her life, did you?" Walker asked. This was a pissing match, both women could see it. Neither of the men were willing to back down and it was beginning to get to the point where something bad was bound to happen.

"I think you should leave." Ghira pointed to the door.

"Walker, no." Blake said.

"No, it's fine. Here I come with my Gears to help your people out because the Grubs are here, yet you treat me as I'm some arrogant Atlas soldier. You want me out of your home, fine... but don't come running to me when something happens with your people's social problems." He said as he downed the rest of the tea then let his helmet fall down.

"Mr. Ronin, we would appreciate it if you stayed." Kali tried.

"It's fine, Mrs. Belladonna. I can clearly see the atmosphere is tense and I'm making it worse, the tea was great and thank you for having me over." He said politely before walking out of the front door. The air was silent for a while before Blake set her tea down and rested her head in her arms, sighing loudly.

"Why did you do that, dad?" She asked.

"He's like Adam, he's just like him with the stench he was carrying." He said.

"No, he's like that because of the Locust. He's fought them for years and he's seen the damage they've done. If anything, he hates Adam more for what he's doing." She said. The two began arguing for the next ten minutes about how he's different while Kali just thought about him. None of them had noticed but she noticed how he would always scan the room like there was a threat, twitch at the smallest thing, or clench his fists when he was being antagonized. She could see the storm that raged inside his head while he was doing an impressive job of containing it, at least on the outside.

"Blake, is there something wrong with him?" She finally chimed in.

"Yeah..." She sighed.

"You mind telling us? Ghira, keep your mouth shut." She commanded, watching him close his mouth before he could even open it fully.

"He has... PTSD. He's had it for a while, multiple times I've tried to help him but he's pushed me away. In fact, the only people he's talked to about his problems are Ruby and Yang's parents." Blake sighed.

"Hmm, from the sounds of it he is more comfortable talking to adults rather than your age group." Kali said.

"I mean, his whole squad was adults. His medic was one, his leader was one, and his other friends were adults." Blake said.

"He had to grow up too fast." Kali said.

"He joined the military when he was thirteen." Blake said.

"That's hard to believe." Ghira muttered.

"I never asked for your input, Ghira." She snapped, making him sigh. "What else about him?" She turned back to her daughter.

"He's... he's different. Not only did he manage to keep us all alive when the Locust attacked the fairgrounds but he's managed to create the Gears." Blake whispered.

"He did this all by himself?" Kali asked.

"Yes. He's worked hard to the point where it's unhealthy. Multiple times I've had to force him to go to sleep so he can wake up at least refreshed but he just gets up in the middle of the night to punch his knuckles raw." Blake explained quietly.

"I noticed that whenever he's spoken, never once did he mention his parents aside from his brief run-down of his life." Kali pointed out.

"..." For once, Blake was silent. She knew that if she talked about his parents that he'd be pissed if he ever found out. Taking this as a sign to stop, Kali nodded and sighed deeply. She was on both sides; on one hand, she supported her daughter for seeking another man but on the other she couldn't help but feel cautious around the boy. His stance, his weapons, and the way her daughter described him made her very wary. He was clearly mentally unstable and Ghira questioning him made the fuse in his mind burn faster, threatening it to blow up without warning.

"I won't lie to you and say that I trust him completely but if he's here to get rid of these Locust then I'll give him a chance." She smiled.

"Thanks mom." Blake smiled.

"Anytime." Kali nodded. And just like that, the atmosphere was relaxed again. Both parents began to catch up with their daughter, from the moment she left to the current moments. Needless to say they were a little surprised she had gone great lengths, they were most impressed that she went to Atlas without her bow and fought the Locust there. She then brought out her scroll and showed them a video captured on somebody's scroll of all of them receiving medals for their actions.

Kali had practically squealed in delight when she saw her daughter look so proud to be addressed by even the more bigotry members of Atlas. Ghira was more impressed that she told them how a majority of the White Fang were turning tail, he was more surprised that the majority of them saw a second chance in the Gears. Slowly but surely their daughter's topic soon shifted to Walker, what he was doing for the world and how little he cared about the tension between both races.

"Oh, my baby girl is so grown up! Taking the world by stride!" Kali squealed while hugging her daughter.

"Mom..." She groaned.

"So you mean to tell me, not only is he able to create the biggest PMC but he's also created a bridge between both faunus and humans?" Ghira asked.

"Yeah, he's great. No matter how bad the attacks are, and how much people give him crap, he always manages to find a way to beat them. That's why so many people look up to him. Every huntsman and huntress want to be like him while countless civilians want to be him. It's why he beats Adam by a long shot." Blake whispered.

"... I know he doesn't like to be compared to that bull but are you sure he's not like him?" He asked.

"No. In fact, it actually disturbs me how much hate he has for Adam. There's been numerous times he's hit White Fang supply transports to draw Adam out, this last one he almost did but an attack from the Locust made him withdraw." She said, making both of them raise an eyebrow.

"Blake, sweetheart, does he kill people?" Kali asked hesitantly.

"... He only kills people that threaten him and us. I remember some guy tried to kill me a couple of weeks ago." Blake recalled, wincing when Ghira stood up.

"What?!" He bellowed.

"Walker handled it though." She answered, making him look at her.

"He did?" He asked.

"He shot the man quicker than I could comprehend. It scared me to see him kill that effortlessly but then I remembered he's dealt with bandits, rapists, murderers, cannibals, Locust, and Grimm. He's dealt with a lot since he first up a gun. I just wish he would let us help him more often. He needs to know that there's people that can help him so he's not always carrying all the weight." Blake's ears flattened. It didn't take a genius to figure out she cared for the boy, even she wasn't this passionate about helping Adam.

Needless to say, both parents were shocked by how much someone of his age had dealt with. It shed a little more light on the boy. Someone who's dealt with death ever since the age of thirteen was bound to become calloused by it, molded by violence to where it ran deep within your blood.

* * *

"So much for good impressions." Walker muttered as he walked through town. He was too busy thinking about the disaster of a meeting with Blake's parents that he didn't notice someone calling for him. A few more minutes of walking and he finally noticed the person run in front of him with a wide smile on her face. He could only mimic the action when he saw those tiny wolf ears wiggle happily and that tiny face that held a bright smile.

"Hi, Walker!" Rachel beamed brightly.

"Hey, kiddo." He waved then knelt down to her level. She quickly hugged him while laughing and he did the same before letting go and walking alongside her.

"When did you get here?" She asked.

"Just today, brought the others with me." He answered.

"Everyone's here?" She gasped.

"Not everyone, only around thirty of us. The rest are shipped around the world to get some experience while we're here." He explained. She gave a happy hum and skipped alongside him. Countless people glanced at the two while they just walked around the town comfortably. They stopped at the market district and bought something to eat before sitting down on a bench and enjoying the sunny day.

"So how are you?" He asked.

"I've been good. Grandma's been working as usual and I've been in school. School here isn't so grand..." She sighed.

"Why?" He asked.

"It's much more old school here. I feel that I'm not truly able to shine and I'm constantly getting harassed because of my parents." She answered. It was true, she had been getting harassed about her parents being gone when she first moved here, some calling her a bastard child or others using it as an excuse to torment her. What really struck a nerve with him is when her grandmother couldn't do a single thing about it. The only thing she could do was scold the parents and children but that was usually brushed off. Actions like those really made his anger skyrocket. Maybe it was because his parents were gone and he went feral when somebody would talk about them or it was probably because she reminded him of Ajay.

"Well, if it all boils down to it, you could always run to our camp when things get too bad. As long as you don't mess with things you're not supposed to then I have no problem." He gestured.

"Would everybody else be okay with it?" She asked.

"They will if they don't want me to dock their pay." He chuckled.

"... Are you sure?" She asked.

"Kid, I'm literally the Commander of one of the most powerful PMCs in the world. My Gears don't care what I do half the time." He nodded.

"... Okay..." She whispered.

"I wouldn't offer you this if I didn't care about you." He said.

"But why?" She asked.

"Why what?" He asked back.

"Why do you care about me so much? Others usually leave when I tell them things like these." She said.

"I can relate. I lost my parents when I was still growing and people would constantly harass me about them. Plus, you remind me of my little brother." He said. She turned to him and noticed that when he was eating there was a small frown on his face.

"Oh..." She looked down.

"It's in the past now." He waved. The two sat in silence for a while before she turned to him again.

"So how did the meeting with the chieftain go?" She swung her legs off the bench.

"Less than savory." He laughed sheepishly.

"Did you say something he didn't like?" She asked.

"More like I know his daughter. He doesn't like me simply because I know his daughter and that she's one of my friends, but that doesn't really matter because we came here to kill the Locust, not cause trouble." He sighed.

"Well, if it means anything, I think you're here to do good." She smiled.

"Thanks, kid." He smiled back. There was a buzzing noise on his scroll and he turned to it to see that it was from Jaune, stating that they had found something interesting while scouting.

"Do you have to go?" She asked.

"Unfortunately, maybe I'll swing by to check up on you two." He said as he stood up. He buckled a bit when she hugged him tightly and he returned the gesture before letting go and watching her disappear within the crowd. The trip back to camp was silent as he brushed through the crowd and walked quickly up the trail to the left of the large Belladonna house.

"Who's there?" Ciel asked.

"It's me, Walker." He called out as he strode past her. Once he entered the main tent, or their planning tent as he liked to call it, he saw that everyone was crowded around it and waiting on him.

"We found a small camp, about ten miles from town. We don't think it's big but it will be if we don't do something." Ruby said.

"Were you followed?" He asked.

"No." She replied.

"Alright. Three teams will deploy and take out the camp while the rest provide security for the town. We can't risk being blindsided and the Locust have been known to set up diversions." He commented. All of them nodded before Yang looked around and spoke up.

"Where's Blake?" She asked.

"Still with her parents. Turns out her dad is the chieftain." He answered.

"How'd the meeting go?" Weiss asked.

"He doesn't like me." He answered simply.

"I'm almost afraid to ask why." She raised an eyebrow.

"It's because I simply know his daughter. He has a problem with me being in his home, yet he has no problem asking for my help. Actions like the ones that transpired today make me not want to help him. That doesn't matter though because we have a job to do." He said. They all nodded and got ready before waiting until nightfall, most of them slept while others checked their weapons. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

The night was quiet as the Locust patrolled a small camp ten miles from town. This was nothing but a simple scouting party but they decided to set up camp here and recon the area around town in the morning. Some of the Locust were asleep while others kept an eye out for any surprise attacks. One of them walked towards the edge of a rock and dipped his canteen in the water, watching as it filled up. When it finally looked back down, it saw blue lights and quickly aimed its weapon at the water but jerked forward when a sniper round punched a hole in its head without a sound. It swayed in place for a second before tumbling forward towards the water. A pair of hands breached the water's surface and caught the descending body with some effort before slowly lowering in into the water without a sound. A few seconds later, Walker's head slowly peeked out from the water and he looked around before the rest of his body followed suit. He looked back to see everyone else peek their heads out of the water before following him towards the shore.

"Nice shot, Ruby." He complimented on the radio.

"Thanks." She whispered before aiming down the sights again. Unlike her regular weapons, she had to stick with a Longshot, a snub, and her knife. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the weapons, because she did, but she enjoyed having _her_ weapons more.

Everyone else quickly got rid of the water in the barrels of their weapons and aimed them forward as they each surrounded the camp at different vital points. The makeshift tower that had the turret suddenly jerked upwards when the spotter found a spear piercing its face when Pyrrha threw it at breakneck speeds. Walker whistled and pointed towards the Locust in the other tower and waited a second before he saw the trail at which the sniper round rocketed towards the Locust. He saw the head explode in a bloody mist and inwardly smiled when he realized that she was getting better with her shots. She still wasn't in leagues with him but she at least got better, considering she's almost four hundred yards away. Once the body crumbled, he quickly gestured for them to enter the camp.

Silently entering the camp and taking cover to avoid getting spotted, he quickly gestured for them to head towards the specified points and gestured towards the explosives, watching as the other two teams nodded and broke off. He turned to the girls and gestured for them to go plant the explosives while he went inside the tents that the Locust set up and killed some of the sleeping occupants. The last occupant woke up quickly and opened its mouth, only to find a black blade come out of it, making it gurgle for a second before dropping suddenly. Blake looked at him and he nodded before searching the body for ammo or something valuable.

"You find anything?" She asked quietly.

"Just some ammo, grenades, and a knife. All things we could use." He whispered and tossed her a magazine. Both could faintly hear bodies dropping and peeked out of the tent to see a body drop in front of their tent and Nebula's head peek inside. She waved and he returned the gesture before signalling for her to do a sweep. Shortly after she left the spot, they looked at one another and reached inside the pouches on their sides and pulled out some explosives. His radio cackled silently and he heard Nebula say that there weren't anymore Locust alive, a small camp this truly was. They all did another sweep and didn't see any then asked Ruby if she saw any but was met with silence. He repeated the question and was still met with silence.

"Ruby, this isn't funny..." He said. He was still met with silence. At this point everyone was beginning to get worried and their worries skyrocketed when the heard gunfire from Ruby's spot, they took off without a second thought and noticed that the gunfire had died down. It took a few minutes but they eventually managed to reach her position and saw her hiding behind a rock. There were dead Locust around her but they didn't have any time to admire her work when they suddenly found themselves taking cover behind trees when she fired at them.

"Ruby, it's us! It's us!" He yelled. Her firing stopped immediately and she hesitantly peeked around the corner with her helmet off and saw them before she flashed them a smile. Although, they could tell it was a painful smile because she was bearing too much teeth and they could occasionally hear her strain when she moved.

"Hey guys!" She beamed hoarsely. He didn't say anything and quickly made his way around the rock to see a giant red bandage around her leg, and even then he could tell it was doing little to stop the blood. Ignoring her pain filled cries of defiance, he managed to stop the bleeding enough for him to pick her up.

"I'm not some damsel in distress!" She cried out.

"No, you're an injured Gear in Locust territory. Now stop hitting my chest because we're going to see what weapons and ammunition the Grubs have, maybe some juicy info that we can use for later." He retorted. She muttered something then just silently dangled in his arms as all of them remained alert for Locust, while checking up on Ruby to make sure she's okay. They viewed her as the youngest of the Gears, because she was, but they also valued her character and didn't want anything to happen to her.

The trip back to the camp was shorter than going towards Ruby's position and they saw the bodies of the Locust beginning to collect flies around them from the stench. All of them put their helmets back on to filter the air and began to scrounge around for whatever weapons they could scavenge from the camp. They stuffed the bags with as much weapons and ammunition they could carry and were about to blow the camp but stopped when Walker was staring at the Troika turret.

"Let me guess, you want it?" Blake deadpanned.

"You know me so well." He grunted as he lifted Ruby off the ground.

"Then how the hell are we going to get it back to camp, not to mention set it up?" Jaune asked.

"Simple, you guys are carrying it." He answered.

"But I don't want to carry it! I'm tired!" Nora whined.

"Why the hell are you all complaining? You have a fucking aura to lift shit ten times your size. Quit your bitching and get the turret, if you do then I'll let one of you press the detonator." He retorted and started to walk outside the camp and waited at the exit. He heard them mutter something then scale the tower and rip the turret from its stand and toss it off the tower then pick it up. Nora and Octavia picked it up and carried it while the others carried the bags full of weapons and ammunition. They went around the lake and made it to a manageable distance from the camp before Nora fished in her pocket and looked at them all. She saw them nod and then a grin made itself known on her face before she clicked the the detonator. A fiery explosion danced against their eyes as they watched the camp burn along with the bodies of the Locust. They stood there for what must have been ten minutes before they finally decided to turn in for the night, pleased with the somewhat successful mission. A burning Locust camp always picked their moods up.

* * *

"Yang, stop!" Ruby cried out as she hobbled on one leg.

"You gotta catch me first~" She sang as she quickly maneuvered out of Ruby's grip with her diary in her hand.

"That's not fair! You know I got shot and it still hurts!" Ruby yelled.

"Come on, Ruby! Gotta catch me!" Yang laughed as she ran around camp, with her younger sister following close behind her on one leg. It had been two days since the raid on the camp and everyone in camp was busy doing their own thing; some of the guys playing cards or listening to music, the girls were either sun bathing or playing cards with the guys, or some of them simply enjoyed the atmosphere of the camp. Jaune, Cardin, Walker, Ren, and Flynt were playing poker, with Flynt in the lead. Jaune lost when he lost all his chips and cussed out his opponents in a very vulgar manner, Ren soon followed, and Cardin was close to losing but managed to have a few lucky hands to remain in the game.

"You know, you can call it quits, boss." Flynt adjusted his shades.

"Kiss my ass, Flynt." Walker commented.

"Nah, I'm not Neon. She'll eat an ass in a heartbeat." Flynt chuckled, only to sputter when a pair of nun-chucks hit the back of his head. They turned to see the said cat faunus hissing at him, making him chuckle nervously.

"Damn, Flynt. Cat got your tongue?" Cardin grinned.

"Shut the fuck up. How would you feel if she had you by the balls?" Flynt retorted.

"Like, caressing? Or like she's gripping your balls so hard they bleed? Because if it was the first one then man, that'd feel pretty good." Cardin gestured.

"I'm willing to say a little bit of both." Walker commented as he raised his stakes.

"I mean if it was caressing it shouldn't be a problem." Jaune said.

"You're out of the game, Jaune!" Flynt threw his hands forward.

"So? It doesn't mean I can't comment. Besides, you guys are talking so I might as well make my comments." He shrugged.

"You guys are assholes." Flynt muttered.

"Yang called me that, then I told her I'd-" Walker was interrupted when she was suddenly behind him and smacked him on the back of the neck, making a loud noise.

"Holy fucking shit! Why?!" He shouted.

"Shut up!" She shouted then stormed away with a red face. He rubbed his neck then sat down in his chair and picked up his cards.

"You had a royal flush?!" Flynt shouted.

"Yep." Walker nodded.

"Fuck you!" Flynt shouted then threw his cards down and slumped in his seat.

"Alright, money's mine. Suck a dick and eat an ass, these funds are mine." Walker laughed as he collected all the lien. The others groaned loudly and slammed their heads on the table while the girls just laughed. The others began to argue with him, stating that he cheated and they want a rematch but he looked at his watch and shook his head no while laughing at them. The tent flap opened and everyone aimed their sidearm at the person entering, only to see that it was Rachel and quickly put it away while uttering their apologies.

"Shit... kid, what are you doing here?" He sighed.

"W-Well some of the kids are harassing me and I thought that I'd stay here for a minute." She replied nervously.

"Does your grandmother know?" He asked.

"Yeah..." She nodded and he raised an eyebrow before getting on his scroll and texting her, lo behold she did know that her granddaughter was there. Rachel looked around and saw that everyone didn't really have a problem with her being here, they had known about her long enough to know she wasn't really a threat and didn't want to cause any trouble, thus letting her stay here.

"She said she wants you back by five, which is in three hours so you can just relax here." He said as he counted the chips.

"I can't stay here with you all?" She asked, looking around to see them turn away while rubbing their necks.

"We'd love you to stay but... we kinda have orders." Yang laughed sheepishly.

"Oh, it's like super secret." Rachel asked.

"Yeah, but mostly because we don't want you getting caught up in our troubles. You don't deserve that." Nora waved. Rachel mumbled something underneath her breath before turning back to the table and watching as the boys argued with Walker, claiming that he cheated during the poker game and wanted a rematch. She smiled at their banter and just enjoyed their company while playing the only game she knew how to play, goldfish. She won by a landslide and it even got her a nice little pocket change for her trouble. Before she knew it, it was around five and he decided it was time to bring her home.

"Alright kid, collect the lien and let's get you home." He said.

"Do we have to?" She whined.

"Unfortunately, don't want your grandmother smacking me because I failed to bring her granddaughter home." He reasoned.

"Okay..." She sighed. He bid everyone a farewell for the moment before stuffing the lien in his pocket and handing her the rest, which was almost half, before walking out of the tent with her. Both of them walked down the trail in silence while enjoying the setting sun in the distance. They walked for five minutes until they reached the middle of town, seeing some of the shop vendors start to shut down for the night. Another couple of minutes and they eventually reached her house and she knocked on the door. A couple of seconds later and they saw Isabelle blink at the two.

"Oh, thank heavens." She breathed.

"Yeah, she scared the crap out of me too. But it's all good." He said.

"Thank you." She thanked.

"Grandma, look! I won a ton of money!" Rachel beamed.

"You did? Where'd you get all of this?" Isabelle blinked.

"She won it in a card game. Managed to win a bit of my money from me." He said.

"Well, it'll save me money in the long run so make sure not to spend it all on sweets." She said towards her granddaughter.

"Okay, bye Walker, it was fun today." She said happily then hugged his stomach.

"Glad you stopped by. Holler if you need any help." He said. She nodded and ran inside the house before he chuckled and began to turn away but was stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder, seeing Isabelle look at him with a grateful expression.

"I can't say this enough but... thank you. She's been happier now that you're here." She said.

"I couldn't keep my promise when I looked for her brother but I'm going to try and keep my promise looking out for her." He replied.

"Still, thank you." She thanked.

"Anytime, feel free to call if you have a problem. Goodnight." He said. The door closed and he began to walk towards the camp slowly, he wanted to enjoy the place for a minute before he had to turn in for the night. As he looked around the island, he couldn't help but remember Azura a couple days after the war, it truly was a beautiful place when the Locust lied still on the ground. As he walked towards the camp, there was a noise to his right and he saw two people fighting over something, normally he would intervene but after what happened with Ghira, he didn't feel the need to. It was made very clear that if he tried anything then people would take it the wrong way and point the blame towards them.

"I'm not a peacemaker either. Not my problem." He muttered then strode back to camp.

* * *

Everyone woke up and did their usual morning routine; which consisted of exercising, sparring, eating, checking their weapons and supplies, patrolling, and doing whatever they could to pass the time. It was a little boring to say the least but it kept them occupied for the time being. Blake headed into town to visit her parents while Weiss and Ruby headed in there to buy some things from the vendors, Weiss had faced numerous insults towards her but shrugged them off. She went through Walker's training so it at least meant something to be able to shrug off numerous jabs towards her family name. Yang had settled with training with Arslan and the others, while him? He was currently in the jungle sitting on a tree branch writing in his journal. It was a nice change of pace, especially with a body dangling upside down and a pool of blood collecting underneath it. A White Fang member tried to sneak into camp last night and almost succeeded had it not been for Penny's cameras alerting him.

Turns out it was nothing but a mere scout wanting to gain some information but was caught by him. Some of the others knew what he was doing and decided not to ask questions when he dragged the poor soul into the brush and interrogated him. It was disturbing when they heard the scout cry out in pain and beg for his life before a wet gurgle replaced his pleas. Morning came and they still saw that he was gone and decided to do their own thing because they knew what he was doing. He continued to write in his journal for the next ten minutes before shutting and locking it then stuff it in his satchel that he got from the others. He leaned back into the tree and closed his eyes while just listening to the jungle around him.

The soft swaying of the leaves and the sound of waves crashing against the beach in the distance made him visibly relax and really appreciate the scenery. He was about to fall asleep but growled in annoyance when he the sound of footsteps and a gasp. He already knew who it was and shut his porthole lights off and actually started to fall asleep for a second before he felt a pebble hit against his helmet, making a sharp ringing noise. He continued to doze off until he felt a rock hit his helmet and opened his eyes then turned to see all three Belladonna members standing there.

"What?" He asked.

"Care to explain why there's a dead White Fang member hanging upside down?" Ghira scowled.

"He tried to sneak into camp, gain some information about us, then try to report it back." Walker answered simply.

"Then you kill him instead of bringing him to us?" Ghira's expression was the same.

"He would've escaped and reported it to base. I'm simply being cautious." Walker replied. The air was suddenly tense as both parties stared at one another in silence, did they seriously expect him to feel guilty about killing a man?

"We have a law here. No matter what, we do not kill each other." Ghira warned.

"If you have laws then what's stopping the countless harassers from tormenting a little girl?" Walker asked.

"What?" Kali asked.

"A little girl by the name of Rachel has been getting harassed ever since she came here a little over a year ago. She said that her grandmother, Isabelle, had been reporting these cases for the entire time yet you've done nothing to even stop it." He said.

"I fail to see how this-" Ghira started.

"You know what? Why are you here - I mean, why are you actually talking to me? Is it an apology? A request? Or something that relates to the Locust?" Walker asked.

"I was originally going to apologize but I changed my mind when I saw the man dangling there." Ghira gestured. A sigh escaped Walker's lips as he leaned forward and bent down before cutting the rope and letting the body crumble to the ground with a wet splat.

"You can have him, I'm done with him anyways. A tip of advice, watch who you talk to... there's a mole." Walker said as he jumped off the branch and began to walk by them.

"We're not done yet." Ghira put a hand on his shoulder.

"I am, and don't touch me. We're not buddy buddy like you assume. I'm here to get rid of the Locust here while you're here to keep the peace between your people." Walker shrugged the hand off his shoulder and began to walk.

"We have a request." Kali said suddenly. It made him stop and look at her from the corner of his eye.

"What is it?" He asked.

"We sent a couple of the guards to handle a noise in a nearby cave and they haven't returned yet." She said.

"High chances they're dead." He said.

"Walker!" Blake scowled.

"It depends on what was in that cave. Could be Heart Leeches, could be Serapedes, could be a Wretch nest, hell... could even hold a Berserker but if that's the case then their bodies are reduced to paste at this point." He shrugged.

"I thought you were supposed to be saving people?" Ghira growled.

"I do, I just don't want to waste my resources and manpower on people that are already dead." He retorted.

Blake was about to open her mouth and scream at him but he said something which contradicted his previous conversation.

"I'll see about it. If it's a Berserker and my friends die because of you... then their deaths are on you. Remember that, Ghira." He said and began to walk back to camp. The three could only stare at his retreating figure and shake their heads. Ghira officially didn't like him, Kali was beginning to side with her husband, while Blake had mixed some mixed feelings. On one hand, she could understand he didn't want to lose people on someone that could be dead but on the other she wanted to help those guards if they were still alive.

"Just like Adam." Ghira muttered.

"He's done a lot more than you, you know." A voice rang out. They turned to see Jaune walk from the brush.

"Jaune, what are you doing here?" Blake asked.

"Patrolling, like we're supposed to be doing." He answered flatly. Making her ears flatten, right... she was supposed to be patrolling.

"And who are you?" Ghira asked.

"Someone who knows Walker. You say he's like that man-child, Adam, but you don't know what kind of shit he's been through. You judge him for what he's doing but don't seem to mind the fact that the White Fang are literally killing people because of this so called "Justice". Nobody seems to judge you for leaving yet you can judge a person because he kills a single person on your land." Jaune said as he put his Lancer on his back.

"I know the scent of bloodlust when I smell it." Ghira bit.

"Yet again, you ignore the fact that the once peaceful protest group is killing countless men, women, and children. If you want to judge a book by it's cover then go right ahead. Know that if you jeopardize one of us, he'll kill you, regardless if he likes your daughter." Jaune said as he stepped closer to Ghira, until he was standing right in front of all three of them.

"And if you even think about harming him, then I'll kill you for doing something so fucked up towards someone who's already lost enough." He threatened then brushed past them. Blake was shaking in her boots at that. She knew that Jaune was different than the previous one, this one was molded by warfare and would do anything to keep his friends safe. Walker would die for him and everyone else as he would do the same. She knew that he would actually kill her father if he threatened any one of them and that's what made both of the boys dangerous. Out of every one of the original Gears, Jaune and Walker were the only two who have killed somebody.

"Are they all like that?" Ghira asked.

"No... we're usually all about helping people but I don't know why he's not so keen on helping those guards." Blake sighed.

"Sweetheart... I know you like him but I think I have to side with your father on this one. So far he's displayed nothing but his own self gain and sick desire to kill the Locust." Kali said.

"..." Blake was quiet for once, maybe her parents were right. Maybe she didn't know a single thing about him.

* * *

The next day he followed the trail to the so called cave and found the entrance. He went alone as to not risk anybody but kept radio contact with them, it seemed Blake was pissed at him for some reason but that mattered little to him. It was no big secret that her parents didn't like him, he already had one set of the girls' parents like him and that was enough. They knew he killed people and had come to terms with it after seeing a bit of what he had to go through. All the faunus parents did was constantly compare him to that bastard Adam and judge him for killing, yet they don't seem to mind that their once peaceful protest group is slaughtering people and costing the kingdoms millions of dollars worth of damage. Oh, how he loved hypocrisy.

It didn't take long for the scent of decay to enter his helmet before the filters kicked in. Two minutes into the cave and he found the first guard leaning against the wall, he had been mauled to death by what he assumed was a pack of wretches. He then strode past it and continued his trek deeper into the cave. He ignited a flare and threw it forward to give him a small view of what he was walking into, he found the second guard without the lower half of his body and it was confirmed that it was a pack of Wretches judging by the claw marks on the walls and the body. A simple Lancer and Scorcher combination would get this job done just fine.

The deeper he went into the cave, the darker it got. There were growls up ahead and he ignited another flare and tossed it forward to see the pack of Wretches feasting on a poor soul, only he was still alive and was begging for his life. They continued their sick buffet as their claws tore into his torso and ripped off strands of flesh while their maws feasted on the muscle inside. He continued to beg for his life and saw Walker in the background and reached out to him, only to have his hand torn to shreds by one of them. He decided not to let this poor man die from the Locust and pulled out his snub pistol and fired a single shot, killing him instantly when the bullet passed through his skull. A mercy kill, violent yet merciful.

Seeing no reason to take out each one now that the guard was dead, he equipped his Scorcher and ignited the flame before letting a jet fly out and bask the monsters in a fiery inferno. Horrifying shrieks and screeches bounced off the cave walls as they flailed around violently, trying to put the flames out. Some of them tried to lunge towards him but all he did was lift the weapon and let out another jet of flames to bask them in more fire. A majority of them ran past him in hopes of getting the sizzling pain off their bodies but eventually fell when their skin began to char and cook. A large Wretch, what he assumed was the alpha gave a loud screech at him and charged with the intent of ripping him apart. He stood still and merely equipped his Lancer and waited for it to get close. Once it was close to him he revved up the chainsaw and slammed the teeth on its shoulder, making it screech in agony and convulse violently. The teeth ripped apart its flesh savagely before making its way to its bone and the sound of cracking made a sadistic smile appear on his face. He then forced the chainsaw down to its stomach and reveled in the sound of organs tearing apart before he decided to end it and gave one final push, bisecting it violently.

"..." For once he had no snarky comment to say about this. He merely kicked the corpse a bit like a soccer ball then looked at the eggs turned around, ignoring the fact that possibly gallons of blood were dripping off of him. He began to whistle as he set charges on the cave walls then stopped when he thought he heard something but then continued as he got closer to the exit. Getting back was a lot quicker than going inside of the cave and he made it out fairly easy. Once he was outside of the cave, he let his eyes adjust to the lighting before walking for a minute until he was at a safe distance. Once he was at a safe distance he brought out the detonator and clicked on it, patting himself on the back when a loud explosion echoed throughout the town and made everyone panic for a second.

"I think now would be a good time to tell the Belladonna family of their situation with the caves." He gave a feral grin then had a little bounce in his step as he enjoyed the scenery. As he entered town, some of the residents visibly jumped when they saw his blood soaked figure and heard him humming like a little kid that just got back from the candy store. The trek to the Belladonna household took all but three minutes of walking through people and ignoring their fearful expressions. His fist slammed on the door and raised an eyebrow when Sun was the one to answer it.

"Oh... hey Walker, back so soon?" He laughed nervously.

"Did you expect me to die?" Walker asked.

"No, I knew you'd be back. Just not so soon." Sun chuckled in the same tone.

"Wretches are not that problematic. Hell, I enjoyed killing them. Almost as much as I enjoy killing people." Walker chuckled darkly.

"Yeah..." Sun laughed nervously, the laugh of his commander was beginning to disturb him a bit.

"Anyways, where are the Belladonnas?" Walker asked, calming down from his laughing fit.

"Well, that much I can't tell." Sun rubbed the back of his neck.

"You can't tell or you won't?" Walker asked.

"A little bit of both." Sun said sheepishly. It was quiet for a minute while Walker just stared at Sun.

"Sun... I'm very high on bloodlust right now. Either you tell me where they're at or I cut off your tail and force feed it to you." Walker said in a hollow tone.

"Listen, Walker... Blake's mad at you. She asked me to-" Sun started.

"I don't give a damn if Blake's mad at me. She'll get over it like usual but I can't report what happened in the cave if you don't tell me where they're at." Walker said.

"..." Sun was quiet for once.

"Sun... Tell. Me. Where. They're. At." Walker seethed a bit.

"No." Sun said.

"Excuse me?" Walker's eye twitched.

"I said no. Look, she's pissed at you. All three of them are actually. I don't blame them, these last few months you've been acting like a dick; telling people to fuck off, going on missions solo, you've even put some of us down." Sun said.

"I fail to see how this is related to you telling me where they're at." Walker said flatly.

"They don't want to see you, simple as that." Sun said.

"... I don't care if they don't want to see me. I'm just going to tell them what happened in the cave and leave, you're creating unnecessary drama." Walker merely said as he tried to walk past him but Sun blocked the way.

"Sun... move." Walker said.

"No." He bit. He stared at Walker for a second and the air was silent before he suddenly gagged and found himself lifted off the ground with one hand, staring into yellow portholes.

 **"You seem to fail to realize I can kill you without a care in the world. You seem to fail to realize if I don't kill you then I'll make your life a living hell, all by changing a few documents and sending them to each kingdom. Your life, your goals, and even your friends are mine to command, I practically own you. So let me through or I'll skin you alive and parade your skinless corpse around the town."** Walker snarled then threw him out the door. He stomped around the house and eventually found the room where the three family members were at and was about to throw the door open... until he heard what they said.

"I guess he really is like Adam." Blake sighed.

"Honey, I know you like him and everything but I'm afraid your father was right on this one." Kali said apologetically.

"I just... I guess after seeing what he's been through I thought I would have been able to help him..." Blake said.

"Some people can't be helped, I'm sorry." Ghira sighed.

"I thought he was different." Her ears flattened.

That was all he needed to hear from them. It was nice to know that in the end, she sided with her parents on calling him another version of Adam. Stepping away from the door and hauling himself over the edge, he walked back to camp slowly while still having his fists clenched tightly. A lot of the people moved out of his way when they felt the anger rolling off of him. The only time his anger faded was when Rachel and Isabelle passed by him and waved, him returning the gesture, before heading off to do their own thing. After all he did for her, she turns around and calls him another Adam? Dead-Echo would have killed her for saying shit like that or the very least beat her into a coma. Kelly would have broken her mentally, Amelia would have taken her apart from a distance, Fred would have just crushed her, and Nash would have either killed her on the spot or thrown her to the nearest Heart Leech nest.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts he didn't notice that camp was right in front of him until he entered his tent and threw his weapons on the ground and threw himself on his cot. His journal was on his post and he picked it up before writing in it harshly, so hard that he threatened to tear the pages. His tent flap opened and he barely looked up to see Yang grinning at him, only for it to fall when she saw his helmet lights that malevolent yellow she had seen once, and only once. It was something she hated to see out of him.

"Is this a good time or..." She trailed off.

"You're fine. What do you need?" He asked.

"I just wanted to know if you wanted to spar?" She asked.

"Not this time. A little pissed at the moment." He said. He felt her sit next to him and look at him.

"What to talk it out?" She asked. At first he was going to say no but then he sighed and then realized he couldn't give a fuck anymore. He looked at her and explained what had transpired over the last day and a half; from Blake's parents judging him, to the cave, then to Sun getting in his way from delivering that report of the cave, and finally all the Belladonna members saying he was another Adam. He felt the air heat up and saw looking at him with red eyes, not at him but for him.

"So they have all the nerve in the world to judge you for what the Locust have done to you but they don't seem to mind the fact that the White Fang are still killing innocent people?" She stood up.

"Guess they think I'm like Adam because I have manpower." He muttered.

"You're not like that bastard. Sure you may have your violent tendencies that scare the hell out of us." She said.

"Mhmm." He hummed.

"And can be an asshole sometimes." She listed.

"Yep..." He sighed.

"And do things that make me want to punch some sense into you. Especially when you talk about my ass." She listed once again.

"Okay, Yang, I get it." He said.

"Sorry. But you're one of the better people I know. If anything, they should be more ashamed of themselves for trying to make you out as a bad guy." She said.

"They want to judge me for who I am, fine. But if they need help with their social problems, they won't find any sympathy from me. We came here to get rid of the grubs." He said.

"I'm sure we can help somewhat." She tried.

"We're killers, Yang. Not peacemakers." He reasoned.

"Come on, at least try to become one." She said.

"No." He said.

"Please?" She asked.

"No." He replied.

"Maybe Ruby will make you." She tried.

"Not if she doesn't want me to dock her pay." He retorted.

"Come on, Walker... at least try to help people." She cried out.

"Can't really help people if they don't let me do my job. You want to know something, aside from Ghira being a complete asshole to me, Blake hasn't done a single one of the tasks I sent her to do." He said.

"What's she been doing?" She asked.

"Spending all her time with her parents. I sent her, Ruby, and Ren on that scouting mission the other day, tell me why Ruby and Ren were the only ones to actually follow orders." He said. Now that she thought about it, Blake had been avoiding her duties, she's even been gone more often than not and it was beginning to show as of now.

"Now that you mention it, she had been gone a lot. It's making a lot of us pissed, Jaune especially." She said.

"Heh, he's really starting to become a soldier now..." He chuckled as he leaned back. It was quiet for a while before she stood up and walked towards the tent opening.

"I'll go talk to her. Maybe she'll actually listen." She said.

"I'm giving her three strikes or I'm kicking her out of the Gears. She's on strike one." He said.

"Wait, why?" She asked.

"Yang, when I give you all orders, it's not for fun. It's because it needs to be done to avoid casualties, and her avoiding those orders are getting people killed. Her spending time with her parents rather than following orders is going to cost us one of our lives sooner or later." He answered. She seemed hesitant but eventually she understood his motives, disobeying orders was a no-go for him, especially when there are lives on the line.

"I'll go talk to her. You know where she's at?" She asked.

"Still with her parents, probably still talking shit about me." He gestured, making her eyes turn red at that.

"... I'll go set her straight." She said as she walked out of the tent, only to see Ruby there. Both sisters knew what needed to be done and began to walk towards the Belladonna household, they had a bone to pick with a certain cat faunus.

* * *

It takes a lot to piss Ruby Rose off. Stealing her cookies, looking through her diary, touching Crescent Rose without her consent and friends gossiping about friends had to be the top four. So when she heard that a certain teammate was talking behind one of her closest friends' back, needless to say she was not in a good mood. Walker could be considered one of her closest friends and to hear a friend and her parents comparing him to a man-child angry at the world made her angry enough to almost use her baby to teach them a lesson.

When they finally reached the house and knocked, their expressions turned sour when they saw Sun there.

"What are you two-" He didn't get to finish when Ruby pushed him out of the way and marched upstairs when she heard the voices. Yang followed closely behind and shook her head at the boy before following her sister upstairs. Both girls heard laughing and scowled before opening the door to reveal the three family members laughing before stopping when they saw them.

"What are you guys doing here-" Blake questioned.

"Outside. Now." Ruby ordered. Keep in mind, Blake had never seen Ruby angry before and by the look on her face she was very angry at her. Her once innocent eyes held a deep fury that could only be described as hell waiting to be unleashed. She nodded hesitantly and looked at her parents before following her teammates down the stairs and out onto the porch. One glare towards Sun was all that was needed to make him back off.

"Ruby, what's this about-" She was interrupted when a loud smack rang out and a searing pain blanketed her cheek, making her eyes widen.

"You got a lot of nerve comparing him Adam, Blake." She scowled.

"I never compared him to Adam." Blake countered.

"Oh really? Because when he explained to me in the tent, you were agreeing with your parents and calling him another Adam." Yang crossed her arms.

"I don't know what he told you but I never called him another Adam." Blake countered. It was silent for a minute and Ruby's fists clenched.

"Bullshit." She cursed, shocking the other two. You really had to push her over the edge to have her curse at you.

"Ruby?" Yang asked but was silenced by a raised hand.

"After all he did for you, you go and call him another version of that terrorist? He's saved your life countless times and you come here and talk so much behind his back. If he didn't care about you then he wouldn't have trained you to become a Gear. If he's like that bastard, Adam then he would've been killing innocent people left and right. If he didn't care about any of us, he would've left the moment the Headmaster said he found him a way home! Nobody seems to get mad at you for being part of the White Fang yet you can judge him for killing people that threaten us! If this is the kind of people we're fighting for then I don't want to fight for you all!" She screamed as her eyes started to glow slightly.

"Ruby?" Yang asked again but was silenced by what she said next.

"You can go and act like you're doing right by telling your parents all about him and what he does then let them judge him all they want, but if you so happen to put him in harms way or kill him... then you're not the kind of person I thought you were. Either you straighten yourself up and help him end this war or don't bother coming back to us anytime soon." She seethed then stomped off. For once, Yang was calm about that... eerily calm.

"You know... it takes a lot to piss Ruby off, Blake. And it takes very little for me. But this whole ordeal, could have been avoided." Yang said as she saw Kali, Ghira, and Sun walk to the door, making her face turn sour a bit.

"I'm sorry." Blake apologized.

"It's not me you should be apologizing to. It's Walker. He said you two have three strikes until he kicks you out of the Gears. You're on strike one." Yang replied and began to walk off but stopped one last time. "I think you two should stay away from camp for a few days. Walker's helmet lights are yellow and Ruby doesn't want anything to do with you two right now... neither do I." She said as she walked down the steps and turned the corner, back to camp.

* * *

 **Holy shit, you guys. I have been on that struggle bus for the past few months and I have a perfectly good reason. One; college is pretty time consuming and sometimes boring. Two, Red Dead Redemption 2 has been an absolute blast along with Rainbow six. Three, I have a bit of writer's block.**

 **Enough about that though, I have good news due to my recent absence. I have written over three chapters in total for my stories and will be uploading them soon, and I have gotten out of that funk. Now onto reviews.**

 **RodentLordSteve: Another one.**

 **Jkdelta38: Thanks man, appreciate it.**

 **sebitor: Dunno, I thought it would turn to shit a bit but it has surprisingly doing decent.**

 **Tron: I thought about it but then I remembered I am absolutely horrible at artwork. I can describe something in perfect detail if I try hard enough but as far as drawing? I'm pretty shit at it. I'd actually be very honored if somebody made it for me because then I'd feel extremely grateful and would give a quick shout out to them but nobody will probably do that for me so I'm content with not having fanart at the moment. If you want to feel free but if not, oh well.**

 **Wolf: I thought about it but then I remembered that he has no way of actually telling the council how a King Raven operates. The only reason the helmets were made is because he actually understands the workings of his helmet and based the current helmets off of his. I hope that at least somewhat satisfies you.**

 **Helljumper206: Tough titty, this is the direction the story is going. You have your story and I have mine, let's leave it at that.**

 **That's all I have for reviews, everyone. I know I'm behind but this is more of a hobby thing for me rather than a living so don't expect me to be the world's best author because I know there are plenty of people who surpass me in terms of writing. They have a set schedule while I just upload when I can, there's more to life than the fiction that's inside your head. I'm pretty simple, don't like my story then politely take the nearest exit and don't come back. I'm not here to impress everyone and I know my story has lost some people but holy hell everyone, stop acting like I'm a fucking best-selling author. I'm human, same as you.**

 **That's all I have for now. Remember the golden rule of Gears and my stories, and have a nice day everyone... take it easy.**


	21. Chapter 21: Little bit of redemption

Tensions were very high over the last few days but eventually that turned into a week then to two weeks, and eventually that turned to a month. After Walker had explained to everyone what had happened, they suddenly found either a new disrespect for Blake and Sun or extreme disappointment. Granted, they had talked behind his back too but they often were concerns about his mental state rather than what he did and if it was about what he did they brushed it off later. After the cave mission, he had been doing mission after mission to take his mind off things. Not only did it concern them all but it made them miss his company; he was essentially the older brother of the group, mentality wise. This last mission though, he had been gone for a few days and they contacted him to make sure everything was alright but he merely stated he was fine. Reports were given to him via his scroll and he often congratulated them on their success, which made their spirits raise a bit when they read that. They also had been giving him reports of fights breaking out between the citizens and they weren't surprised when he said that wasn't their concern what happened to people and their own problems.

The Gears were always on alert and the only person they would let in the camp without a care in the world was Rachel, who often just dropped by rather than being forced to. Ghira and Kali always needed to be escorted and would leave after a few words. They tried to apologize to Ruby but she would ignore them and do something with Nora or somebody else, it was clear she didn't want anything to do with them. Yang wasn't any better and she would often leave after a few words and they didn't bother trying to talk to Weiss as she basically politely told them to fuck off. It was the same with all the Gears there, they didn't want anything to do with the parents and would ignore them. Comparing their boss to a genocidal terrorist was one of the worst mistakes they could make.

Blake and Sun eventually returned and often looked for Walker but would always barely catch him. They were either too late or just couldn't keep up with his routine. He would often leave while all of them were in town or when they were asleep. Both had sent them numerous texts saying they were sorry for their actions but he would often retort that they would give away his position with their constant text messages. This last time though, he stated that he was both annoyed and disappointed with them equally, a bad combination for someone like him. They gulped in anxiety when he sent them a message stating that both of them and the Belladonna parents would discuss things in the main tent when he got back. Usually when he says things like that, it means he's fed up with someone.

The moment he got back, everyone noticed something different about him, he barely talked. For some reason he barely talked to anyone and just went to bed without saying a word, when they tried to ask him if he was okay he would politely tell them to leave him alone. This carried on for the next few days as he partook on more and more missions, often bringing JACK along with him and returning covered in blood and organs. Another thing was that he was covered in this glowing yellow liquid that seemed to melt the ground but not his skin. He scared everyone when he told them that it was a parasite and not to ever go near it. They didn't know where it was because he sealed up the source but he warned if they ever went near it without telling him then there'd be hell to pay.

He met with the desired people in the tent and needless to say the air was thick with tension so much that Jaune and Cardin coughed as they stood by him. Kali and Ghira sat on one side of the table while Blake and Sun sat on the other side, he sat at the edge with his hands clasped together. It was silent for a while, half an hour they presumed before he spoke up for the first time.

"Words cannot describe how utterly disappointed I am." He said quietly before setting his hands on the table. Four gulps made him lean forward a bit. "I come here to help you all get rid of the Locust and you constantly antagonize me because of my appearance and personality." He said as he looked at each one of them, making them shrink.

"We-" Blake tried to speak up.

"This isn't the time for you all to say what you want. You said enough back at the house." He interrupted, making her ears flatten. The sound of his watch made the atmosphere all the more tense. "I give you two an order and you directly disobey it." He said as he looked at his two Gears, making their heads lower.

"I-" Ghira tried.

"I come here with my forces to help you get rid of genocidal monsters and you talk behind my back and compare me to that fucking bastard, Adam." Walker said, looking at the parents, making their heads lower. Cardin and Jaune could only pity the four being talked to, it was never a pleasant thing to hear the disappointment in their boss's voice.

"We wanted to apologize." Kali said.

"... I'm going to tell you a story." He said, making them look at each other then at him.

"O-Okay." Blake gulped.

"I was... possibly fourteen when I did something stupid in the Army." He started to tell, letting them focus on him. "I decided that I did not want to follow an order from my CO in my squad because I didn't feel up to it. He wanted me to check the truck that was full of civilians, to make sure they were okay but I didn't want to." He said. Jaune blanked when he knew what story he was talking about, Cardin too. They had heard when Walker failed so many people because he disobeyed an order.

"Because I was feeling lazy and didn't check one of them, I didn't notice that one of them had a bomb underneath him in a chest. He was part of a faction that hated us and wanted to do as much damage as possible before he kicked the bucket. When I walked away from the truck and cleared them to go, he detonated the bomb and killed an entire truck full of civilians. Full of men, women, and children." He said, making each one of them blank.

"We're-" Sun tried to talk but clamped him mouth shut when Walker stuck his hand up. It was clear that he didn't want any of them to talk right now.

"You know, because I didn't check that and cost those people their lives, the Army had every right to court-martial me? A year of countless good deeds I did for the army would have been gone in the span of a second and a single piece of paper. Had it not been for my dad and the Colonel saying a good word for me, then I would have been rotting in prison next to some cannibals, hitmen, and mass murderers." He said.

"Shit..." Cardin muttered to the side.

"I suppose you're wondering what the moral of this story, huh?" He asked them as he stood up and began to walk around them. Each one of them gave a hesitant nod and watched as he walked back to his seat. He didn't sit down, instead he was still standing but had his hands on the table.

"The moral of the story is do your fucking job. Regardless whether you like it or not." He snarled, making them recoil.

"Boss..." Cardin said but clamped his mouth shut when those yellow lights glared at him.

"I give you an order, you better do it." Walker turned to Blake and Sun, seeing the color drain from their bodies before he turned his gaze to Ghira and Kali.

"You let me do my job and kill the Locust, so that _your_ people can live without fear. So that _your_ family can live in a world without fearing for the next day. I'm doing all the heavy lifting, the very least you can do is let me do my job without judging me. Do you see me judging you for letting the White Fang turn into genocidal maniacs?" He asked.

"They're not genocidal maniacs!" Blake outraged. She turned when she heard a whistle and saw Jaune shake his head, as if warning her to sit down and listen. Her eyes found Walker's yellow ones, almost as if asking her to say something else. Her body sat down quickly and didn't meet his gaze until she was sure he wasn't looking at her.

"Do you, Belladonna?" He asked.

"No..." Ghira sighed.

"Then don't judge me for killing people." Walker growled. It was silent once again before Walker sat down, but they could tell by the sound of his breath and the sight of his muscles clenching tightly, he was doing everything in his power to keep his anger in check.

"Can we leave?" Kali asked quietly.

"... No. You're going to sit here and think about how to make it up to me. Cardin, Jaune, they try anything then plug one in their legs then have Penny patch them up." He ordered as he stood up and began to walk out of the tent.

"What are you going to do?" Jaune asked.

"Finalize those dishonorable discharge papers for those two if they fuck up, check up on Rachel, and go kill something. I'll be back in a few hours." He answered then walked out.

Silence blanketed the air once again for the next few minutes while Jaune and Cardin were just looking at their scrolls. Cardin chuckled a bit before laughing then showed Jaune, who laughed a bit, then swiped to the right. Both stopped laughing then shook their heads before Cardin processed what Walker said.

"Oh shit, you actually might be dishonorably discharged." He exclaimed.

"Is that bad?" Kali asked.

"Assuming Walker actually does go through with it, it could mean they're lives are essentially over. Jobs are limited close to zero, nobody will trust them, hell you might even be targeted by some... less than savory company." Jaune answered.

"So we're a target now?" Blake asked.

"Not yet. Keep in mind that he hasn't officially submitted the documents yet which means you two are still Gears." He said.

"That's a relief." Sun breathed.

"Don't think you're out of the woods yet. The boss is pissed, you two might be the world's first dishonorable discharge Gears, and nobody trusts you as of now. It's safe to say your luck isn't going very well." Cardin chuckled. Blake's ears flattened when she heard that, knowing Walker he would actually go through with it.

"... We truly made a fool of ourselves, haven't we?" Ghira sighed.

"Yeah, you fucked up. Big time." Jaune said. Cardin reached in his pocket and pulled out a cigarette and placed it in his mouth before offering Jaune one, who just shook his head and sat down at the table.

"I'm going to go smoke." He said, opening the tent flap.

"Tell Pyrrha we'll go out to town later." Jaune said.

"Got it." Cardin managed to say with the cigarette from his lips as he exited. Everyone watched him exit the tent and went quiet for a while before they turned to Jaune as he took his Lancer apart and began to clean it.

"Since when does Cardin smoke?" Sun asked.

"Since last week. Had you two actually been here when you were supposed to, you would have known Dove is in critical condition at base. There's a possibility he might not make it." Jaune answered as he cleaned the chainsaw teeth.

"What happened?" Ghira asked, making Jaune glare at him for a second before turning his head back to the disassembled weapon.

"Your damn scouts compromised their position. One of them had his daily dose of ego and decided to try and take on a fucking Mulcher. The fucking thing turned faster than he could comprehend and fired at him. He would've died had Dove not pushed him out of the way and taken up a majority of the damage. He lost his left leg and arm and one of his ribs pierced his lung. Penny somehow managed to keep him stabilized until he got back to base. It took Walker and Yang to stop Cardin from killing the stupid fucker right then and there, so you should consider yourself lucky you still have the scout." Jaune explained.

"That's not what we were told." Kali said.

"You were told wrong. I've fought next to Cardin and his team on numerous occasions and they're some of the bravest men I've met as of now. So the fact that you walk around here congratulating fake heroism, just think... we do this because we don't want the Locust to win. Walker stays here because he doesn't want anybody to die and he wants to get rid of the Locust. So the very least you can do is thank him or at least try to make it up to him." He said.

"We get it, we messed up. Cut us some slack." Sun sighed.

"No. You want to know something? Your team had been wondering where the hell you've been for the last three weeks, so much that they've had to rely on each other rather than wait around for you to come back. Yours too, Blake." Jaune turned to her, making her ears flatten. Ghira's fists tightened and he felt his claws extend slightly while he glared at the blonde boy.

"Stop." He warned.

"Or what? You'll kill me? News flash, Ghira, Walker'll kill you the moment he finds out if my team doesn't kill you first. I'm grilling into these two because they were given orders to help maintain the survival of _your_ people. I've never been in the military but seeing as our Commander was in it, I have a basic idea of what reasonable punishment is. Besides, they haven't even seen the worst in humanity... not like Walker and I have." Jaune said as he reassembled his Lancer and stood up.

"So we're just supposed to sit here?" Sun asked.

"Yes." Jaune nodded then looked at his scroll when he got a text. "Walker said he'll speak with each one of you. Individually." He said, making them gulp. They really did screw up.

* * *

Sun left the tent with a crestfallen expression, and quickly walked to town, leaving the others to look at him. Walker peeked his head out of the tent and looked at Kali.

"You're next." He merely said and went back in the tent. Both Ghira and Blake could hear them talking for a while; like Sun's scolding, it had started out with a story then it eventually shifted into him stating that she never knew him and what he had been through. It carried on for a while before he sent her out of the tent and they saw her expression. It wasn't one of sadness but one of shame and understanding, she either had a new respect for him or a basic understanding of how he functioned. Either way, it was clear he was over it with her and wanted nothing more than to drop the whole ordeal.

Ghira was next and what was described as a reverse role of a boy scolding a man would only be found in reality television. Both men were not willing to back down but Walker had said something to Ghira that made him quiet, then began asking him questions that he couldn't answer. Some about the Locust, others about the White Fang, and a majority of them asking what he knew about Walker. None of them were answered by the older man, who left the tent with shame on his face and walked back to his house with his wife. Blake watched them go and wondered what he said to them until she jumped when she heard him right behind her.

"Let's get this over with, Blake." He said. There was no warmth in his tone like she was used to when he first greets her nor the anger when she messes something up or doesn't tell him something important. It was a simple empty tone that wanted nothing to do with said person. Is this how he felt about her now?

She walked into the tent and saw him sit on the bed and gestured for the chair in front of her, which sat a few feet away from him. Her body suddenly felt sluggish and the chair seemed a lot further away than it looked but eventually she made it and sat down quietly while he just sat on the bed and looked at her. She didn't need a visual representation of his face to see that it was flat, angry, but flat.

"You know, it takes a lot of fucked up shit to disappoint me." He said.

"I know..." She whispered with her head down.

"Yet you did something that irks the absolute fuck out of me. What are the things that disappoint me the most, Blake?" He asked.

"I don't know." She said with her head still down.

"Look up. I didn't train you to be looking down all the time. Look up and talk like you got a pair." He ordered, watching as her head raised up. "What are those things, Blake?" He asked.

"... Compare you to Adam... Disobey orders when lives are on the line... and... and..." Her eyes began to water.

"Finish the damn sentence." He ordered harshly. She sniffled when she heard his tone, it was of someone who's mindset didn't match his age, someone who had grown up too fast and had an adult mentality, a responsible one at that. Combine that with strict military discipline along with a hint of insanity and you get the man in front of you.

"T-Talk about your past to other people without your consent." She sniffled.

"Out of every single one of the Gears, you know more about my past yet you felt the need to discuss it like a fucking internet blog." He stood up and circled her, paying no mind to her flattened ears and teary eyes.

"I-I didn't mean to... it just sort of happened..." She said.

"So you mean to tell me, you told them about my mom and my dad like it was your business? Because last time I checked, neither one of them knew a damn thing about me. Tell me Blake, how would you feel if I just told the council that you were once Adam Taurus' apprentice and that you were on that train with him?" He asked.

"Horrible." She said.

"Now how did you think it felt when I found out your damn parents knew mine were dead?" He asked.

"..." She was silent, just wiping away her tears.

"That requires an answer, Blake." He said flatly.

"Horrible." She whispered.

"It felt fucking atrocious. Like the time Skorge twisted the knife in my back." He nodded. If her ears could go any flatter then they'd fuse to her skull.

"I'm sorry..." She whimpered.

"..." He couldn't say anything but he could give a long sigh. The amount of stress from the past few weeks was beginning to whittle him down, little by little. He needed to talk to someone, possibly Glynda.

"I'm sorry, okay?! It's just that... we all see that you've been stressed and didn't want to put anymore weight on your shoulders. My parents wanted to help you until they saw what you were capable of a few weeks ago. I didn't want them to see that side of you." She said.

"How does that justify you speaking about my parents? How does that justify the three of you comparing me to that fucking failed abortion, Adam? How in God's name does it justify you leaving everyone and avoiding your duty when the Locust are here?! It doesn't, Blake! I could give a damn about your parents liking me or not so long as they let me do my job! I can't do my job when they keep providing false intel and keep getting us hurt or killed!" He shouted at her. He paced back and forth quickly and raised his finger at her before dropping it and giving a mirthless laugh.

"..." She couldn't say anything, all she could do was wipe the tears away. Him giving that humorless laugh only made it worse since it signaled he was past pissed off, he was absolutely livid.

"You all want to speak about me? Fine. I'm done. I'm done trying to act like a reasonable and well mannered person. You four want a violent psychopath? You'll get one." He laughed mirthlessly and began to walk out of the tent.

"Do you still care about us?" She whispered.

"It seems that something whispered in my ear. Must be my imagination." He shook his head.

"I said... do you still care about us?" She swallowed the lump in her throat.

"... I won't lie to you when I say I don't care, because I do but Blake... that shit you all said about me and the fact that you all talked about my family... actions like those make me not want to anymore. Weiss made once comment about my dad and you saw how I treated her for the next month. You on the other hand called me a copy of the fucking terrorist scum then proceeded to talk about my family's business like it was yours to tell." He muttered. Her ears were still pressed flat against her skull when he said that before she felt a hand set between her cat ears, making her look up at him to see that his porthole lights were that blue color she was used to.

"I'm sorry." She couldn't take it anymore and began to sob quietly.

"Saying sorry won't mean anything, doing something about it will. The people you should say sorry to is everyone out there." He pointed the tent flap.

"I don't know if I can." She sniffled.

"It's now or never, they'll be mad now but they'll eventually get over it. You do it later then they'll take it as a sign that you were never sorry to begin with. The choice is up to you. Fix your problems now and stay a Gear or wait until it's too late and leave. Just know, when you leave... I'm not someone who accepts a deserter so easily." He took his hand off the spot then walked out. Tears continued to leak from the corners of her eyes before she wiped them away and stood up and slowly approached the tent flap. It was now or never.

* * *

Blake had made one of the smarter decisions of her life when she apologized to everybody. Stating that she was a fool for disobeying orders and running off to her parents when she was needed elsewhere. She knew not everyone would welcome her with open arms so easily and she accepted that, this would be a slow and difficult process. At first her ears flattened at every jab thrown her way until she got past that, her shame for abandoning her duties eventually faded along with the days, so now she was on the trust phase.

Yang's trust was the first and easiest to gain seeing as she was her partner, but the blonde made it very clear she wouldn't trust her partner anymore should she run from her job. Surprisingly, Weiss was next. Her trust came slow and difficult but the Schnee's insults and snarky comments made her ears flatten but soon they were replaced with scolding sessions that eventually faded with time. Ruby... Ruby's trust was hard to gain, at first she ignored her teammate for a while and didn't want to be in the same room with her then that shifted to her being able to barely tolerate her. She had to practically beg the young rose for forgiveness and that was even hard to overcome, only through Walker's orders did she start looking the cat faunus in the eye again and even then the scowls made her ears flatten. It took her nearly a month for the young rose to forgive her and see her as a teammate again but even then she could sense the faint apprehension in her eyes.

Walker's forgiveness took a lot longer than what she expected. Over a month and a half of following orders and doing things with him. His trust however, wasn't going to come around anytime soon. He made it very clear that he wasn't mad at her anymore but he was extremely disappointed in her. She wanted to scream at him, shout profanities, hit him, do whatever she could to force him to trust her again but she knew none of that would work. His flat tone was constant with her, him wanting to do nothing with her made it hurt, but the main thing that hurt the most was when he stated that no good comes from a soldier who abandons their duty. That's what he considered her at the moment, a soldier, not a friend like she hoped. Of course, that was in the past and they eventually came to a common ground to essentially put their friendship back to its previous spot but with some tension every now and then. She does her duties first and makes sure everything in her power is done then she could do whatever on the days she's not doing anything.

Her parents usually spoke to Walker in matters of business. They had finally realized the threat that was underneath their feet after he had explained to them what the Locust were. He explained to them what they could do if their plans weren't sabotaged, how much death they could cause in the span of a day should they not be taken care of. They were not beings to be reasoned with, that was made clear when a couple of guards tried to negotiate... only to turn up mutilated a day later. The thing that made their worries skyrocket was when he told them that they were everywhere; underground, on the surface, in the air, and even in the sea. In order to come to a common ground he needed to explain to them both the Locust and the Hollow creatures.

"A couple of Drones themselves are worth and entire squad of Atlas marines. A group of Boomers and Therons are worth a platoon, but the high-ranking ones? They're worth half an company. Never ever try to take them on alone unless you've been trained to." He explained.

"Is that where Gears come in?" Ghira asked.

"Essentially, yes. We mainly specialize in taking down these HVTs and even doing extermination missions should the need arise. Now onto their weaponry." He changed the subject. Both parents could only feel a small pang of guilt when they realized that the boy in front of them knew more than them about the threat more dangerous than the Grimm. They were so clouded by their judgement that he was like Adam that they didn't realize that he had been fighting the Locust for as long as he remembered, someone molded by violence so much that they didn't know anything else. From what their daughter described before the scolding session, he was once a very vibrant kid so full of life, that is until he joined the Army.

Someone who's lost both his parents and was separated from his little brother was enough to put a grown man down. Yet, this boy explaining to them about the threat seemed to find a way to keep going, to keep holding onto that last hope that he'd be able to do something good in this world. Ghira sighed when he looked at the scars on his arms and saw that a lot of them were either stab or bullet wounds that healed into rugged looking flesh. Kali couldn't help but wince when she saw him give the faintest tick when he heard gunfire in the distance. He was so used to being shot at that the smallest noise set him off. Their first impressions of him had almost cost them a good ally but they couldn't help but feel shame when they heard one of his men is possibly dying, a kid at that. In fact, they were all kids. Kids fighting wars meant for the older and wiser.

"Now, onto the creatures that dwell in the water." He said.

"How many?" Kali asked.

"As far as I know, two. There's the Manglers and the Leviathan." He gestured.

"Dangerous?" Ghira asked.

"Very. Manglers pretty much run in pack and Leviathans... run solo. Manglers are pretty easy to get rid of or ward of should you have enough guns. Leviathans on the other hand need something bigger. You're pretty much gone should you go out alone on a small boat. Their mouths are big enough to swallow a car so..." He trailed off.

"So much worse than the Grimm." Both parents sighed.

"... You bring up an interesting point." He said.

"How so?" Ghira asked.

"When was the last time you've gotten a Grimm report?" Walker asked. Both of them looked at one another before getting on their scrolls and haven't seen a Grimm report for the last two months. They may not have a CCT tower but they did receive news from outside sources and never once did those sources say there has been a Grimm attack for a while. Almost as if the majority disappeared.

"This is good, right? Please tell me it's good." She said towards him. Both looked to see him look off in the distance, as if he were thinking.

"We might have a problem, two actually." He said.

"What are they?" Ghira asked.

"Either the Locust have enslaved the Grimm, which is highly probable, or the Grimm are converging somewhere." He said thoughtfully before turning his attention to a spot in the house. "JACK." He called out. A few seconds later the bot appeared and gave a few happy beeps then zoomed up to him, startling the two parents, who just looked at the bot.

"Bring up the news from the last two months regarding Grimm attacks." He ordered, the bot gave a confused beep until he explained it a bit more clearly. A screen lowered and he looked for the next few minutes to see nothing about Grimm attacks, there were a few but not like they usually are. It disturbed him a bit. He then ordered him to bring up the teams' statuses and saw that they were either exterminating Locust or guarding the camp.

"Good job, buddy. Cloak for a bit before we roll out and head back to camp then I'm shutting you down." He ordered and watched the bot give a few sad beeps. "Don't give me that, I'm doing repairs on you later with Penny so just relax. You like Penny." He said then watched the bot give a confirmatory beep then cloak again. A small chuckle escaped his lips at the bot's innocent attitude before he turned to see the parents look at him with raise eyebrows.

"You can talk to robots?" Ghira asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, JACK understands basic vocabulary and will follow my commands. A little shit sometimes but will get you the intel you can't carry or rip a door open if you want him to." He answered.

"You talk as if he's alive." Kali sipped her tea.

"Believe me, he has more life than those damn Atlesian knights. I'd rather take one JACK than a squad of knights any day." He answered.

"You bond with the strangest things." Ghira commented.

"More like JACK bonds with you. Once he's assigned to you, he'll stick with you like white on rice. He develops a sort of like and dislike personality with some. I mean, he's won Ruby, Penny, and Nora's hearts." Walker said as he closed his laptop and stood up.

"You're leaving?" She asked.

"Kind of have to. They need me and I need to check up on Rachel." He answered. As he was walking to the door he turned around when he felt them looking at them and gestured for them to spit it out.

"We'd like to have dinner with you." Ghira said.

"I thought you hated me? I'm pretty sure you hate me still." Walker said.

"We don't hate you all... we just... we were worried that Blake would fall into another bad group like that bastard, Adam." Ghira said with venom.

"As I said before, I'm not-" Walker started.

"We now know that. We just feel guilty that our first impressions were rather antagonistic. This could be a start over for all of us." Kali said.

"... I'll see. Chances are very low with how our current relationship is. Until the next time." He merely said and left the house, not feeling an ounce of guilt for what he said.

* * *

He was returning to camp with a COG tag swinging in his hand gently. It needed to be done, they needed to know of his fate, how much of a fight he put up to see his team again. When he returned to camp and saw everyone there, including the parents, he called them over. The three of them walked a small distance from the group and he broke it to them as gently as he could. It was denial, unadulterated denial before that shifted to emotional agony. Both boys sobbed on the ground and he didn't blame them, they had lost a teammate and brother because of someone else's mistake. They bore the burden of losing someone close to them while he could only shake his head and kneel down to their level.

His apologies were sincere, both knew he understood their pain. They knew their boss was feeling the same emotional pain as them seeing as he spent his free time molding the young man into a Gear, one that he trusted. Anger was the next thing. Anger at the Belladonna family, anger at the scout who caused this, and especially anger at the Locust for inflicting the wounds which their brother later succumbed to. One calm command from him was all that was needed to lightly snuff out the inferno that was bubbling up in their hearts. He may have been their leader and was an asshole to them on occasions but that didn't mean he didn't care about them, just as he did for all his Gears. Each one of their lives mattered greatly to him and the loss of another one struck home.

Time was needed for them to heal and he would grant it until he could get Dove's body cleaned up for his teammates to view. He offered to go with them but they just quietly denied it and claimed that he had done enough and thanked him for what he had done. Both boys nodded their heads when he said something to them and handed them the COG tag, it had been cleaned and shone brightly in the sun. The others saw the pain in their eyes and couldn't help but wince when the tears flowed freely and dropped against the ground. They had seen the boys nod when Walker gestured towards the ocean and they had an idea of what he was explaining to them. They were sending the boys back to base to see their teammate one last time before he was shipped home, his medals placed proudly across his chest.

"He did good, you two. He may have started out as an asshole but he ended up a great person, at least in my eyes. He'll be flying with the doves up above now." Walker said. Tearful laughs could only be given from the remaining members of CR(DL). It was a poor attempt at a joke but it at least made them chuckle a bit before they let more tears fall. They listened to him as he stated he'd be there at the funeral if he could and that they were officially on leave, ignoring his guideline about military leave. These boys were in pain and he could see it. Hell, he was in pain but these boys had known each other since childhood so this was the equivalent of losing a family member for them.

He watched as they walked towards town where they would wait for the next transport to pick them up, a week was all that he could give them before they were needed back. After their bodies became small silhouettes within the crowd, he turned back to the others and shook his head before entering his tent. Everyone could see that he was hurting the most besides Cardin and Russel, he worked with those four boys the most to get them out of their ego filled lives and it was heartbreaking to see someone you count as both a student and a friend perish due to something that could have been avoided.

The mood quickly dropped and everyone felt a hole in their hearts when they saw that and were about to go in there but Ghira and Kali beat them to the punch, both gesturing for them to wait until they were done. They entered his tent and saw him just... lying there. Bottling up his emotions and eventually eradicating them in order to avoid the feeling of the pain. It was obvious that he's done this numerous times by how easily he did it.

"Mr. Ronin." Kali called out.

"... It's my fault." He merely said.

"It's not your fault, Mr. Ronin." Ghira sighed.

"It's my fault that he died. I should have never sent them on that mission. I should have just done it myself." Walker ignored their comment.

"There was no way of telling what would happen. You explained it yourself, war does not judge who it takes." Ghira said.

"War also doesn't seem to keen on letting the Locust be killed." Walker said.

"I don't know what to say." Kali sighed.

"... You know I was the one who had helped him the most? Out of all the people he knew, he came to me for help often. Whether it was help being a better teammate or just trying to get Cardin to do something. He always asked me when all else fails. Sure they were racist assholes at the start but they didn't know any better, ego clouded their minds and actions." He started to monologue.

"I'm terribly sorry." Ghira apologized.

"He was a kid, hell we're all kids. Kids forced to fight a war we're not ready for. You know, he had dreams? Big dreams, same as everyone else out there. All of them have dreams they want to fulfill but can't because of the Locust. He once told me that if huntsmen duty didn't cut it then carpeting was always an option... turns out he was good at it." Walker continued but his voice soon turned to sad chuckles.

"He looked up to me, said I was the one person he'd try his damnedest to make proud. Not his father or mother but me. Someone who's the same age as him looks up to someone like me, a mentally unstable man who pushes people away because he doesn't want them to get hurt. You know what that feels like? To be someone's friend and teacher, only to lose them in the end when you promised you do right by them?" He chuckled sadly then turned to them.

"We probably don't..." Ghira said.

"... This is why I try to keep my distance from some people. You get too attached and you wind up getting hurt in the end when you lose that person. Lost my parents, then my brother in arms, and I finally lost another student." Walker laughed sadly. His voice was laced with nothing but emotional agony, he was very hurt on the inside and was doing everything in his power to keep it in his head.

"Life is full of loss, but that doesn't mean we still shouldn't continue on." Kali said.

"... You two can go check up on Blake, she probably needs you more." He said after a while. It was clear that he wanted to be alone for a minute and they would grant that for him. Loss was something nobody wanted to experience, but it was needed in order to make you value what you have left.

* * *

A month had passed by and the newer Gears were arriving at Menagerie, some of them human while a majority of them were faunus. Fifty in total, it may have seemed like a small number for the Locust that currently operated underground but if thirty Gears were able to take back a kingdom then what would eighty be able to do? Another reason he didn't want to bring all his forces was because if something went wrong then not all the Gears would perish, there'd still be some to pass down the teachings and create more. Call it paranoid but he considered it being cautious. It was the same as give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. That was one of the better proverbs someone had ever taught him.

It didn't take long for the newer Gears to get situated, it was remarkably easy to do so. Each one had greeted him with respect as he did the same, they finally understood the threat below and went through battles to finally get a grasp on what they was trained to fight. The Locust were a fearsome foe and didn't care who they killed so long as it was dead by the time they were done. He felt that with enough Gears that he'd be able to finally do a raid on a Locust stronghold that was on the other side of the continent. One of their drones had caught sight of it and they were going to storm it but didn't have the manpower to do so, at least without casualties. Now, he felt that there was enough to actually do the raid, it might even free this continent of Locust control. The only thing holding him back from giving the order would be the amount of firepower the Gears currently had. It wasn't nearly enough to kill every single grub in there. Which is why he was currently thinking in his tent alone while everyone else did their own thing.

His foot tapped the ground quickly while his hands were holding his head. That golden helmet of his sat snugly on his bed while his hand rubbed his hair. It must have been a couple of hours that he had been thinking before he heard someone attempt to make a knocking sound on his tent, a poor attempt, but an attempt nonetheless. He stared at the helmet's darkened eyes before flipping it around then putting it on his head. Waiting for the systems to boot up and everything to become like how he's used to, he then announced for the person to come inside. It didn't surprise him to see that it was Blake.

"Yeah?" He asked, there wasn't that warmth like how she was used to yet but it wasn't cold like he had been for the past month and a half.

"I uh... wanted to know if you wanted to hang out." She said, but saw him just staring at her. "I mean, that is if you're not busy but seeing as to how you've been busy these past... few... months..." She trailed off. She seemed nervous, not like she was hiding something but like she was nervous to be next to him, to hear the disappointment in his voice when he spoke to her.

"N-" He was about to say no but decided against it when he saw her ears start to flatten, throughout the entire time the newer Gears had been on Menagerie, never once had he just hung out with Blake. He had been so busy on missions and sanctioning missions that he completely disregarded the fact that she wanted to actually spend time with him. She was willing to look past his mental instability and was regretful of her actions the previous months. Out of all his Gears, the girls were the ones he's tried to keep the safest, whether it be from harm or just from themselves, he's wanted to keep them the safest.

"Where?" He sighed and looked to see her ears perk up.

"Just down by the docks. I know somewhere where we can get a drink." She said.

"Lead the way." He gestured and followed her out of the tent. It was a sunny day as usual and he saw numerous Gears doing their own thing; whether it be smoking, playing cards, talking, or carrying out their duties, he saw them actually doing something productive. Speaking of which, he had yet to ask her if she had done her duties.

"I had done my duties, if that's what you're thinking..." She said quietly.

"I had my doubts but you are clearly proving me wrong." He said, a little more flat than he intended.

"Kind of have to, since you turned mine and Sun's dishonorable discharge papers in." She said.

"I just said I got them ready should you two fuck up. I never said I actually submitted them." He retorted.

"Oh, so we're not out of the Gears?" She asked.

"No, unlike some people I give second chances but don't think that this is your chance to run off again with Sun. Speaking of which, where the hell is he? I haven't seen that fucker in like two days ago." He looked around.

"Last time I checked he was in town but he went back to base shortly after. I haven't seen him since. I mean, he stopped talking to me since that talk we all had." She said.

"How does my talks have to do with him talking to you?" He asked.

"I don't know..." She sighed. They walked for a few minutes in silence and he was about to speak up but decided against it, every word that came out of his mouth was flat and he didn't want that. He didn't want to sound like an asshole every time he spoke and it made him uncomfortable to see her uncomfortable. Forgiveness came easy with her seeing how she had been closer to him than Sun but that made the bridge of trust rebuild slower. You grow close to somebody and they break that trust, it'll be a while before that bridge can fully be built again.

"I wasn't lying about that story I told you all." He said out of the blue, making her look at him.

"I don't feel like you would lie about something like that." She said.

"It was one of my greatest failures. Thirty people had died because of me and I damn near lost all my achievements and my life because I didn't want to carry out my duty. My team was pissed off to the top with me and damn near had me let go. Nash wanted nothing to do with me, Fred damn near shot me right then and there, Amelia said she would take my head off from a distance, and Kelly was with Fred." He laughed mirthlessly. She couldn't do anything but listen to him as they walked through people, who were too busy to listen on them, and eventually came up on the table she had set up for them.

"Six months of gaining their trust back and to be filled with content, only to lose my home in the eight month of the year. That much damage that Skorge had inflicted on me added with the fact that my home was falling right in front of my eyes almost made me snap. They tried to comfort me and tell me it was okay but I was so far gone that I didn't notice my sanity begin to slip. A year later my dad passed away and they saw how unstable I was becoming, it was their turn to beg for my forgiveness when they tried to take me off in order to get me help. It took them longer due to how far gone I was and I didn't give to shits, often using that truck incident as fuel to the fire." He said as he sat down.

"..." She was silent and he took this as a sign to continue.

"Guilt was wracking their minds when they saw how many missions I would do alone in order to take my mind off things, each one claiming it wasn't healthy to isolate myself that many times against a threat that big. Nineteen solo missions was the amount I would do by myself, each mission was when my team actually began to miss my company and wanted to have me by their side again. Nineteen fucking missions was what it took for my sanity to get a grip itself in order for us to actually see eye to eye on one another. From that point on, they wanted me by their side again. They only noticed how little I cared for human life when they saw me butcher a bunch of violent stranded without a care in the world. Kelly would often make me talk about how I was doing mentally while Fred would try to get me to play a game with him. Nash often took me on missions in order to let my violent urges free and get rid of any opposition while Amelia would read a book with me in silence." He said while looking out at the sea.

She didn't know what to say. She couldn't say she understood, well she could to a degree, but she didn't really know how Sera's military was. Trust seemed to be a big thing with them and he betrayed the trust of his team and almost lost them. The way he said it though, he relied on them to help him through the thick and thin and they almost gave him up. Her hand began to drift towards him but shakily retracted itself when he began to speak again.

"Their efforts were working and my sanity was beginning to rebuild itself until one night when I saw a raider hideout. One minute I was next to them then the next I was in the middle of the hideout covered in blood and gore. When I looked back at them, they seemed... haunted. Like they had seen a hound of hell go to work. Those stranded deserved it though, nothing but no good bandits who had nothing better to do than pillage and rape." He said then turned to see some of the color drained from her.

"... I... don't know what to say." She whispered.

"That's how I actually earned the title of Hellhound. The name still pisses me off from time to time." He muttered.

"Why?" She asked.

"My dad was called a Hound when he was in the Onyx guard for his ability to essentially "sniff" out his prey. You know, from what he's told me, he's had over a hundred confirmed kills." He turned to her.

"Human or Locust?" She asked.

"Human. He was called a hound and so was my grandfather. We were always called hounds for our keen ability to track people. My grandfather was the Bloodhound, my dad was The Hound, and I was officially labeled the Hellhound." He explained.

"That's quite the fearsome title." She sipped her drink.

"Heh, it's quite the title. Come to think of it, I don't know why our name is Ronin when it should have been hound." He shrugged.

"I assume it's because your ancestors are often alone or were drifters." She said as she took another sip of her drink then stopped to see him looking at her.

"That's actually correct. We were in fact drifters. Before the Pendulum wars we were often people who would do odd jobs for different countries before disappearing again. It was only my great-great grandfather who became the first one to join the COG along with his siblings." He explained.

"That's... actually pretty interesting." She commented, she actually wished to know more about his family history. "What else?" She asked.

"Aside from us being titled the Hounds, we were often known for our strength in battle. I don't know much about our family history but what my grandfather and dad told me, the rest was destroyed when the Locust sprung up. My dad did say that some of that stuff is better left buried, don't blame him. We did some pretty awful things in our lives, I'm not an exception." He said.

"We all have done terrible things in our lives." She countered. He hummed a bit and went silent then began to drink his drink before he turned to look at the horizon again, he didn't notice that Blake was looking at him with a bit of shame in her eyes.

"I forgive you, Blake. I forgave you a bit ago in fact." He said.

"Y-You did?" She blinked.

"I forgive you but don't think that I fully trust you." He countered.

"That's understandable..." She sighed.

"... You're a lot more accepting of this than I expected." He raised an eyebrow.

"I kind of have to. I understand that I messed up and I want to do everything I can to fix it. Everyone else had forgiven me and some are even starting to trust me again but you? You're the one who would take the longest to earn their trust back." She said.

"My whole life has been built on trust and loyalty, I can't really be any other way." He shrugged. For once in the past few months, both of them actually found themselves smiling at one another. They could feel the bridge of trust between them slowly but surely begin to build once again. He looked at the time and sighed when he saw that it was around four in the afternoon and they needed to head back.

"Time to head back?" She asked.

"Yep." He answered as he stood up.

"Well, come along... Hound." She teased.

"Careful kitten. This ain't your typical hound." He smirked. As the two were leaving they didn't notice two hooded individuals look at them before following them behind as they walked to the Belladonna house.

* * *

Days had passed by and he was currently sleeping in his tent. Due to the tropical climate of the continent he usually just slept without a shirt on, some of his female Gears caught sight of him and were reduced to nothing but embarrassed school girls. He on the other hand made them run laps for the next hour due to how pissed off his was about that. That's getting off topic though, right now he couldn't fucking sleep because someone was too busy whispering his name.

"Psst, Walker..." The whispered in his tent.

"..." He was silent at first.

"... Psst." They whispered again, making him cover his head with his pillow in a feeble attempt to block out the noise.

"PSSSSSST..." They whispered so loudly it made him sit up and storm towards the tent.

"I swear to-" He stopped when he saw Blake there, she had a nervous look on her face and saw her face staring at him or rather his chest.

"My eyes are up here, Blake." He snapped his fingers and made her face turn red a bit before looking him in the eyes.

"Right... I think I found something about the White Fang. More like, someone." She said.

"It couldn't wait until morning?" He sighed.

"No, I'm sorry." She apologized.

"It's... one in the morning. You didn't bother asking the others?" She asked.

"Yang got pissed off, Ruby whined like a child, and Weiss commented how I was messing up her beauty sleep. Come on, you're the only one I can really count on with this thing. Please?" She begged.

He stared at her for a few seconds, which eventually turned to a minute before he let out a long sigh then nodded before going and putting on his shirt and grabbing a snub pistol and his knife, along with some flex cuffs for somebody's hands and some regular cuff for their feet. He walked outside his tent and saw the moon shining brightly in the sky and turned to see Blake just have her weapon. She wore a simple black tank top with some black cargo pants, usually her Gear attire consisted of these things. He just wore a simple white shirt and his combat pants with his regular boots.

"You ready?" He asked.

"Yep, come on." She answered and began to lead him into the city. It was quiet as the two walked down the trail and eventually came across the dimly lit streets. He didn't know who they were looking for but she apparently did, if her eyes told him anything. Normally he wouldn't care about something like this but if she's willing to wake him up in the middle of the night to ask for his help then it must be important, right?

More time passed by which probably stretched into an hour before he sighed and looked at his watch. It was two-thirty in the morning and he was wide awake as of now... perfect.

"Blake are you sure-" He began to ask but saw her eyes snap to something in the trees.

"There!" She said and took off quickly. The person in the trees spotted them and jumped to another set then onto buildings.

"Blake, wait! Goddammit." He muttered and started to run in the streets while she chased the person across the rooftops. Their running would probably make people stir in their sleep and he feared that a little bit, that was the last thing they needed, attention. Minutes passed by and he still found himself running in the streets while occasionally glancing at the rooftops to see where Blake and the figure practically danced across rooftops. More minutes passed by and his vision was starting to warp and a red tinge was starting to cloud it, before he knew it they had stopped after rupturing a pipe and let steam spray.

He cut through the alleyway and came across the house they were on and hopped up on the fence. Once his feet were firmly planted on the fence he jump up and quickly grasped the edge before he jumped from that ledge using the little coverage he had onto another ledge that was the roof. He then hauled himself up and rolled beside her and stared at the figure. She wore a navy sleeveless stealth suit and had a chameleon Grimm Mask with what looked like a whip and a blade at the same time, it was pointed at Blake but quickly shifted to him once she saw him roll onto the building.

"Why were you watching me?" Blake asked as she rushed forward and sent a straight at the person, only for them to block it with their knee. The woman had a scroll in her hand and was about to call somebody but it was kicked out and thrown across the rooftop. Both their gazes looked at the scroll and started to run towards it, only the woman was quickly tackled by him and had a jab sent straight to her mask, breaking a part of it off and revealing her eye. She tried to throw him off but had to shield herself from a barrage of heavy hits that would take her aura down by large proportions. After the seventh hit she managed to get her feet underneath him and kick him a few feet away. She then stood up and revealed her face, making Blake's eyes widen then narrow shortly after while he grip threatened to crack the scroll.

"Ilia." She said.

"You fucking know her?" He turned to her. Ilia then took this time to turn her skin red and spun around before she threw the whip towards him. His eyes widened in pain as he felt the tip of the whip enter his skin and dig into his muscle, before an arc of electricity flooded his nerves and sent them on fire. The tip came out and was quickly back to the rest of the weapon while he just knelt down, clutching his shoulder.

"Walker!" Blake cried out.

"Give it to me." Ilia demanded.

"... No." Blake said after a second of silence. Ilia's skin turned green and her hair and spots turned blue when she heard that.

"You shouldn't have come back-" Before she could finish her sentence she felt an overwhelming mass knock the wind out of her lungs and she suddenly found herself falling off the roof. It felt like forever before her back hit the ground and almost knocked her unconscious. She sputtered violently and gasped harshly as she tried to get the oxygen back in her lungs. Only it didn't come soon enough when she felt Walker climb on top of her and start to savagely beat her face. The first hit hurt but the ones after that were the ones that had her begging for him to stop. Each one felt like a truck was slamming into her and she could barely see those blue lights of his helmet before another fist slammed down on her.

"P-Please..." She pleaded before she felt one final fist to the side of her head before she was rendered unconscious, whether it be from pain or simply from the force of the fist. All that was left was the sudden darkness that caked her vision as her mind slipped away.

He breathed harshly as he climbed off of her and lied down next to her bloody and battered form. His arm hurt and so did the rest of his body, getting stabbed by the whip then later electrocuted from the Dust made his nerves go haywire, that's not including the fact that he tackled her off the building then proceeded to beat her like she was a drum. He looked at her face and it would only be described as someone who had pissed off Yang and was receiving her fury.

"Oh my Oum, Walker!" Blake cried out as she rushed up to him and held his wound.

"I'm alright. Just a little winded, that's all." He waved her off.

"You're bleeding." She said suddenly.

"Yeah, got back at her though." He gestured towards a battered and unconscious Ilia. He winced a bit when she lifted his head and set it on her lap, staring at her worried eyes. He couldn't be mad at her, he did this to himself. Had she gone alone then she would have either been killed or severely injured. There was no telling how long they just lied there, must have been a while since he felt the fatigue go away. It was still night outside which meant their cover wasn't blown and that they could at least walk again, well he could. He saw a crude bandage on his shoulder and must have passed it off as her doing her best at the moment to patch him up, it sure as hell stopped the bleeding so he was grateful for that.

"Alright, come on. Let's get her back to your house." He grunted as he lifted himself up.

"Wait, you're not yet healed yet." She tried to coax him back down but saw him back up again in no time.

"You're talking to a guy who spend nearly a week with Skorge and had to walk out. Something like this will hurt for a bit but I'm alright." He winced a bit as he began to hogtie Ilia. It took a few seconds but when she was eventually tied up, he threw her over his uninjured shoulder and began to walk towards the manor, it was a slow walk and Blake kept sending him worried glances.

"Are you sure you're-" She started.

"Blake, I'm fine. Just need a few hours of sleep and some of the supplies back at camp and I'll be fine." He said.

"I'm sorry..." She apologized.

"It's nothing. My dumbass decided to tackle her off the roof." He said.

"But if you didn't come along then you wouldn't have gotten hurt." Her ears flattened.

"Getting hurt during war is like sex, Blake. You're bound to get do it eventually." He said as they neared the manor. Once up to the doors, she then knocked silently and waited. He sighed before nudging her out of the way and slamming the door knocker loudly and waiting a minute until he saw both parents look at the two then at the unconscious Ilia. Blake sent a sheepish smile while they just sweat dropped at them then nodded a bit before letting the two inside.

"This may seem like a bad time but do you have a bathroom?" He asked as he practically threw Ilia down on the ground and made sure her ties were extra tight.

"Sit down." Ghira sighed. Walker nodded and sat down on the couch and watched as Ghira gestured for Kali to get some medical supplies then for Blake to sit down next. A few minutes later Kali returned with a simple medkit and removed Walker's bandage, only to wince at the sight of it.

"This bandage sure stopped the bleeding." She said.

"Your daughter's the one who did it. Not the first time she's had to patch me up." He said. Both parents looked at her and watched as she nodded sheepishly before going back to tend to his wound.

"This might hurt a bit." Ghira warned as he prepped some alcohol.

"I'm used to pain at this point." Walker retorted. He barely winced when he felt the alcohol burn his open wound, not even flinching when the stitches were beginning to be applied. As they were doing this, they finally noticed all his scars. Most of them looked painful and had made the once smooth skin into rugged flesh. To think that he's only an nineteen year old boy and had gained this much pain only made their regret skyrocket. They truly didn't know what he had been through if he's had this much damage done to his body.

"How are you feeling?" Kali asked as she finished stitching him up, tugging the last one before cutting the remaining thread.

"Tired." He answered truthfully.

"We have extra rooms upstairs-" She said.

"The couch is fine. You're doing more than enough patching me up, so the couch is fine." He said.

"Are you sure? That Sun fellow seemed all too eager to sleep in one of our rooms." Ghira said.

"I'm not Wukong. I don't need a bed in order to sleep, just somewhere I can get some rest without being shot at." He said.

"Are you sure? We have a couple of extra rooms upstairs." Blake said.

"It's fine. The couch is comfortable and I'll be able to keep an eye on her should she wake up." He pointed to Ilia.

"... If you say so." Ghira sighed.

"Believe me, I'll be out of your hair by morning." He said tiredly before his helmet lights dimmed slowly and they shut off completely. He slumped over and all three of them helped him get into a more comfortable position. They looked at Blake as if asking her to explain.

"His helmet lights go out once he's asleep or unconscious. It got me the first time." She rubbed the back of her neck.

"I'm too tired for this, so let's discuss this in the morning." Kali yawned and retired to her room, followed by Ghira. Blake looked at him and brought out a blanket and set it over his shoulders before doing the same to Ilia then retired to her room.

* * *

Ilia woke up suddenly and winced in pain while letting her vision focus. It took a while but she eventually managed to see that she was tied to a tree tightly, her arms and her torso were tied up, so tightly that it hurt to move. She looked around and saw that she was in the Gear camp and started to struggle while muttering curses until she heard a noise to her left, it sounded like scraping. It continued on for a minute before she saw the man, Walker was his name, scoot a chair in front of her and sit down with a bowl of food.

"Well, hot damn. You're awake." He commented as he tilted his helmet upwards and began to eat.

"..." She couldn't do anything but glare at him as he ate.

"I bet you're hungry. I mean the last time you actually ate was two days ago." He gestured. She looked down at herself and could faintly see that she that she had lost some weight.

"..." She was still silent.

"So we're playing the silent treatment, huh?" He asked himself as he took another bite of his food. "In that case, fine. You're not getting fed until you cough something up, which might be a while since you're playing this game." He leaned forward a bit.

"Fuck you..." She cursed.

"... I won't physically hurt you, no... that'd be too easy. I think I'll wither you down, little by little until you're nothing but skin and bones. I give you maybe... thirty days before you starve. We'll see how good your will to survive is then. Enjoy your spot, you'll be pissing and shitting in it for the time being." He said and finished his food then left some of the scraps right in front of her before leaving.

She saw Gears merely go by her, without a care in the world. It must have been three days when she started to feel the effects, four when her body started to hurt, and five when she could barely stand and resorted to sitting in that spot. Another week passed by and she was beginning to shut down little by little. Not once did she utter a single word to any of them, not even Blake when she tried to get her to speak if she wanted food. Her body was starting to thin a bit and she could fell it press against her bones. Dizziness was started to become a normal occurrence while fatigue was next. Hours passed by before she uttered a single word to one of them, their eyes taking sight of her pleading expression and her hopes slightly dashed when she saw them leave for a few minutes.

Those minutes must have turned to an hour before she saw Walker come out with a bowl of food and pushed it to her, only it was just out of her reach, making her try to lean and at least get a taste of it.

"You give me a bit of information and I give you food. Simple as that." He said as he picked up the bowl.

"F-Fine..." She muttered.

"You wasted an two entire weeks of not eating because you didn't want to give up a sliver of information. If that's not ignorance then I don't know what is." He chuckled. He grabbed the spoon and scooped some of the stew up and pushed it towards her before drawing it back and watching as her eyes widened in either fear or anxiety.

"Give me it..." She cried out weakly.

"Information first." He demanded.

"What... do... you want... to know... about?" She struggled.

"You're part of the White Fang, so give me some damn information." He ordered. He could see the hesitance in her eyes and watched as her head dipped down, a sadistic grin started to form on his face when he saw her spirit almost broken, it was broken enough for her to tell him answers.

"We have two cells here that are close to the Belladonna family... Fennec and Corsac Albain..." She said, and opened her mouth to practically inhale the food. He had her by a leash as of now, if she wanted food then he'd need information first, that was the exchange. Food for information.

"What else?" He asked.

"There is word that Adam Taurus is planning to have the Belladonna parents assassinated..." She said weakly, two scoops of food this time.

"When?" He asked.

"That much I don't know... I just heard it from the brothers..." She said. He decided that was all that he was going to get out of her and set the bowl down and stopped the recording on the scroll. He then walked around the tree and cut her hands free then watched her lunge for the bowl and quickly eat its contents, relishing in the fact that she was finally eating something. Once she was done eating, she leaned back when his helmet lights were peering into her eyes, as if they were looking for the tainted spots in her soul.

"Don't think for a second that I'm letting you go anytime soon. I actually wanted to kill you and save some of my resources but Blake convinced me otherwise. She believes a small part of you can still do some good, that you're like the one she remembers. I think otherwise." He said.

"Then you don't know me." She glared.

"Nor do I care. My Gears were so tempted to kill you when you cried in the middle of the night, whimpering for food." He said.

"You humans are always so quick to destroy something that requires your effort." She hissed.

"It wasn't the human ones. It was my faunus Gears who wanted to kill you. The only reason they didn't was because I still need you for information." He countered, making her eyes widen.

"W-Wait, you said faunus-" She tried to say.

"Half of my forces are faunus. I don't give a shit what race you are, so long as you do the fucking job you signed up for. We're killers, guns for hire but we have morals. You White Fang seemed to have lost your way since Ghira stepped down, becoming nothing but genocidal degenerates who kill innocents because of your social problems." He said.

"You don't know anything about us!" She shouted hoarsely but winced when her throat burned from the dryness.

"I do know. The previous ones from the White Fang told me how they were beginning to see what they were doing was wrong and didn't want that. You're not the first to say I don't know what it's like." He said as he stood up and looked down at her. She saw some of the Gears looking at her and shook their heads when they heard what she said.

"You don't! You don't know anything about our struggles and you don't know anything about me!" She shouted. It was quiet for a while before he spoke up, making her eyes widen at the information he was telling.

"Ilia Amitola, a chameleon faunus that enrolled in prep school over in Atlas. Your parents wanted you to hide your heritage to avoid discrimination and it seemed to be working for a while until they tragically died in a mining accident with countless others. After that it becomes somewhat of a blur with you joining the White Fang and doing the bidding of others like a dog on a leash. At an unknown point in time you met Blake, the two of you hit it off, then the rest is history. Until a week ago when you got a tiny bit careless and got caught. A lot of juicy information you got on that scroll there, so much that I might consider letting you go." He said. She could only stare at him with widened and teary eyes while he just stared at her flatly and knelt down to her level.

"H-How-" She tried to say.

"Did I know? Did some digging and Blake. You got two choices here; one, you stay here and have a small amount of protection and may be fed enough to keep your body from shutting down, or two... you run out in that jungle and see how long you survive. If I don't kill you then the fucking jungle will, maybe you'll be picked up by a Locust patrol then turned to minced meat for them to feast upon." He said darkly as he got closer and closer to her, inch by inch. She had heard stories about those things, they were brutal killers and monsters that gave children nightmares, adults too. They were like the Grimm but on a much more dangerous scale. She had heard a story that a group of White Fang had captured one of them and tried to coax it on their side... the group was mutilated the second they let the Locust out.

"..." She couldn't say anything but just stared at him.

"Hope you enjoy your meal because that's the only one you're going to get until you cough up some more information." He said and began to walk away. Not paying any mind to her curses thrown to him, he began to walk towards the Belladonna household with the scroll in his hand. The parents would love this bit of juicy information and it would let him do his job more often. It felt so good to finally be able to hunt again, whether it be Locust of White Fang, he just loved hunting.

A couple of minutes later he found himself standing at the front door and knocked on the door a couple of times. For what seemed like a minute of waiting he found himself staring at Kali's tired face, her hair was strewn about which meant she was probably sleeping.

"Oh, Mr. Ronin... I didn't expect you to drop by so soon." She blinked.

"Yeah, managed to get some information on the White Fang. Everything's on this scroll." He handed it to her and watched as she hesitantly took the scroll from his hand.

"Thank you." She said quietly.

"Yep, enjoy your day." He waved and began to walk off but stopped when she asked him something.

"Did you hurt her?" She asked.

"Ilia? No, never lied a finger on her. I just didn't feed her until she coughed something up. By the way, the Albain brothers are not to be trusted." He warned and walked down the stairs and back to camp. They needed to do something first.

* * *

Walker once again stood in front of Ilia, except he didn't have food this time and he was with some others. Mainly Jaune, Cardin, and Ren.

"So because I'm feeling rather generous today, I'm going to cut you a deal... show us that White Fang camp you told us about and maybe, just maybe, I'll consider letting you walk around camp and grab some food when you're hungry." He said.

"That sounds like a-" She scoffed.

"Boss, I don't think she'll show us, we should just bash her skull in with our weapons." Cardin gestured with his Hammerburst, lowering it when Walker thrust his hand out.

"An excellent idea." Ilia corrected herself. She wasn't taking any chances, she wanted to live like everyone else and they way the Gears, except some, talked about killing her... it wouldn't be quick and clean.

"Glad you see it that way. Ren, cut her loose." Walker ordered and watched as the ninja nodded then cut her ropes lose then her cuffs. She fell to the ground due to her body used to being tied up for so long but was roughly planted on her feet when he grabbed her shoulders and practically threw her up. He announced to everyone where he was going and they all wished him safe travels then waved.

The five of them began to walk into the jungle towards the northeast of the island, Ilia was in the middle sweating like a bucket at the moment, due to the heat and her company. From what she's heard around camp, these four were the most lethal of the Gears, in terms of killing people that is. Walker's done it for so long that he grew used to the fact that taking a life needed to be done, Jaune realized this after the raid on the bandit camp, Cardin lost half his team and stopped caring, and Ren used mostly used his semblance to block the emotions until he dealt with them later. So one wrong move meant that she would probably be decomposing in the next three days. She couldn't run, fight, or even reason her way out. All that was left to do was follow their orders. She may have feared the White Fang for some of the stuff they did but she was terrified of the Gears and what they did and could do.

It must have been an hour before Walker spoke up, his voice relaxed, too relaxed in her opinion.

"What are we going to expect when we get there?" He asked.

"S-Some information regarding White Fang supply runs, where more cells are located in Menagerie, and maybe a high ranking member? Word is that Corsac Albain will be here." She gulped, stumbling when she almost tripped on a rock had Jaune not caught her before shoving her to keep her moving.

"You don't sound too sure about that. Anything else we should know?" He asked.

"No..." She said quietly. All of them looked at her and watched her carefully while keeping their weapons ready for anything, they were deep in the jungle and one wrong move could cost them their lives.

"I thought the White Fang knew e _verything_?" Cardin snickered.

"That's not true. I wouldn't be a White Fang anymore... given how much information I've already told." She murmured.

"You look like one... you were with them for a while... and you smell like one too... Holy shit, you smell." Jaune coughed, even the helmet's filters were doing their best to cover the stench.

"I smell like shit." She muttered irritably.

"That you do, smell like a Beowolf took a shit on you then a Nevermore pissed on you for a shower." Cardin laughed, making her shrink a bit. In fact, it got laughs from all of them.

"Yeah, well... you don't look so hot yourself, dipshit." She shot at him.

"What do you know about us?" Ren asked for the first time.

"I-I bet I know more about you then you know yourselves." She claimed.

"That so? Enlighten us." Walker gestured as he stepped over a rock and began to climb up a hill.

"That you're killers, like the White Fang. You want to do right by other people, and you want to make amends like I'm trying to." She said.

"You know White Fang killed some of our Gears' families when they found out they defected? You know that? That's who you've been running with, some innocent and child killers." Jaune said.

"From what I've heard it was after they killed so many brothers and sisters of the Fang..." She said.

"A White Fang trying to make amends for some child killers' crimes. You trying to dissuade us and lead us into a trap, girl?" Cardin asked.

"I'm not, I'm trying to help, honest." She put her hands up.

"One funny thing... other than you smelling like shit... and you'll be the first White Fang member I shoot today." Jaune said.

"I won't. See, you're just like the Fang." She pointed.

"How would you know? You've been tied up to that tree for two weeks. We're nothing like them. We help people that need help and kill things that need to be killed. We're survivors and saviors while you're a child killer and a terrorist." Jaune bit then followed the rest up the trail.

"I just think you all look the same is all..." She whispered.

"You looked but you haven't seen." He shot at her.

"I mean, Blake said you all did some pretty bad things, especially you." She looked at Walker.

"Jaune? Shut that girl up." Walker ordered.

"Enough out of you." He ordered, making her shut up. It was silent for the next few minutes before they eventually came across a large hill and saw a shack, it was actually surprisingly well built despite being made out of wood, he would call it a cabin by the looks of it. All of them saw a patrol returning back to the cabin while some members were lazing about, either drunk or sleeping. Two important looking figures walked on the trail back to the cabin and their eyes trailed across the area around them, slightly hovering over the five.

Ilia's muffled surprised shout was quickly silenced when she felt a Snub Pistol placed against the side of her head and a hand cover her mouth, she was quickly dragged out of the line of sight and could see Jaune's form behind her.

"Scream and you're dead." He whispered, making her eyes widen slightly. They saw them walk into the cabin and disappear for a while before one of them left. Once he left and all that was left was the strewn about either drunk or passed out on their feet. Walker looked at them then began to stalk towards one of the unsuspecting victims and hauled the man over the log before plunging his knife into his neck.

He quietly ordered Cardin to take the next one down and everyone watched him silently crouch up to the man then plunge his combat knife into his neck deeply. A few wet gurgles made them twitch at the sound but otherwise remain unaffected by the whole ordeal. Before they knew it, they were taking cover behind a log with their weapons out and their minds were going into a trance-like state.

"What's the play, Boss?" Cardin asked.

"... Take em down." Walker ordered and peeked up along with the others and began firing into the White Fang. Due to the sudden attack they weren't prepared like they should have been, some fell quickly while others took cover to avoid the fire and began to fire themselves. Unlike some of the other White Fang groups, only a few had weapons from Sera but they weren't very skilled with them and fell quickly. One managed to graze him with a stray shot and made him wince before he returned the favor, except he made a small trail of rounds that eventually led up to the man's skull.

"Call-" One of them shouted but jerked his head back when Jaune planted a round in his skull and watched his body tumble forward before moving onto the next one. Ren had used a Gorgon pistol to kill one of them that tried to blindside them while Cardin rushed up to one of them and tackled him to the ground before stomping on his skull. One of them shot Jaune in the back of the helmet but quickly fell when Walker kicked the back of her knee then dragged his knife across her throat and kicked her body away. Some of the Fang were slowly backing off and some even tried to run but didn't make it very far when they were gunned down.

"Die like some damn men and women!" Walker shouted as he fired into one of the retreating ones. The last one had tried to rush him but widened his eyes when he heard a chainsaw revving and saw the teeth spinning furiously. His shouts of defiance turned to one of fear then soon turned to one of agony when he felt the teeth rip through his flesh and bone. Walker grunted a bit as he forced the chainsaw down the man's torso and eventually cut him in half then kicked his body away and watched it scatter into two pieces. He heard the sound of bodies lifting then falling and turned to see the boys looting the corpses for supplies.

"Taught em well." He muttered and walked to the front door. When he opened it slightly, he was suddenly caught by surprise and thrown onto his back while staring up at a massive rhino faunus, aiming a shotgun at him. The man laughed darkly and started to squeeze the trigger but suddenly jerked to the side when a Boltok round punched a hole in the side of his head and made his large body crumble.

"You alright?" She asked with the aimed pistol.

"Sure, thank you." He muttered sarcastically as he stared at the sky from the ground before quickly hauling himself up then scanned the room to see nobody there. Especially not a Corsac Albain.

"Motherfucking-" He stopped himself then stormed outside. "Come here!" He shouted and saw her flinch. She jumped in surprise when he aimed his Boltok at her face and she raised her hands up.

"W-What?" She blinked.

"You set us up!" He shouted.

"I didn't! I swear!" She said.

"You did, Albain isn't here!" He retorted.

"He was here, I swear, I sw-" She gulped when he pulled the hammer back and saw him slowly squeeze the trigger. "If I-I was setting you up then I wouldn't have saved your life!" She managed to get out.

"It's a good point, Walker." Ren said. They saw him lower his gun then sigh in annoyance.

"Fine, get out of here." He said.

"What?" She asked.

"I said... get out of here!" He shouted as he shoved her in the opposite direction.

"That's as good as killing me!" She cried out.

"Don't care." Cardin said.

"Out there... without you all... I'm pretty much dead. The brothers and Adam will lose their minds!" She said quickly.

"So?" Walker asked.

"So I'm one of you." She reasoned. They could see it in her eyes that she was scared, scared of what Adam would do to her if she was caught by him, and judging by the pictures of defects, she had all the reason to.

"You got to be kidding me." He sighed lowly then gestured for them to grab her. She wanted to be a Gear so bad, then he'd turn her into one.

"What about the information under the sink?" She asked.

"The what?" He asked.

"The information underneath the sink. We usually have something in the fireplace or in the sink. I'll go get it." She stammered out but stopped when he put his hand up.

"Boys, get her back to camp. She wants to be a Gear so fucking bad, I'll make her into one." He said.

"How are we sure she won't defect from us?" Ren asked.

"She defects from us and I'll kill her myself." Walker replied then watched as they roughly led her back to camp while he searched the cabin. It took a while but he eventually turned the place upside down and found everything he could, it was mostly shit he didn't like. Supply routes to hit from Gears, bombing locations, assassination targets, and a rather nasty plan to assist the Locust anyway possible. They were planning on bombing a way for the Locust then high tailing it out of there before there could be any casualties on their part.

This was beginning to be a shit show, and they were only here for three months...

* * *

 **This is the true reason I've been slacking a bit with my chapters. Instead of just writing chapters one by one, I've been writing a few at a time to progress the story at a good pace and I feel like this is a late Christmas gift for you guys. It may not be the best but that's the way it's rolling for now.**

 **Now some of you may be wondering, "Why the hell does Walker forgive Blake so easily?" and I'll tell you. He has other things to worry about, fighting another war, making sure they don't lose to the Locust, and getting home. Another thing is that he may forgive her but don't mistake it for him trusting her. Those two are close and Blake had broken his trust, so it'll be a while for him to actually fully trust her. In my opinion, it's easier to forgive somebody than to actually trust them. Trust is built on loyalty and one's actions, that kind of shit ain't exactly easy to obtain once the bridge it broken.**

 **Now, onto reviews.**

 **Stormspartan21: You created a draft on Wattpad? Damn man.**

 **Victor John Foxfire: Hopefully this suffices and damn man, I haven't seen you in like months.**

 **Guest: That is true but I'm trying not make her like that.**

 **Keep1n1tFr0st1e: That is has, dear reader.**

 **Danielzabojca: That's what I was aiming for. The way I see Walker is he's a man considered to be half empty and a realist. He's seen the horrors of war and bears scars more than anybody else. He isn't one of those heroes that thinks that just because he helped save the world, that he can do it again. Deep down he knows he's only one man but he's clouded by his thinking of he needs to bear the weight of others that it often leads him to make mistakes. Anyways, thanks for reviewing.**

 **jkdelta38: Thank you, and as far as the strike system goes, Walker is only doing that because he has other shit to worry about. He knows he needs everyone he can get if he wants to beat the Locust, so that's the reason. Granted, he still wants to kill Sun for the unnecessary drama he caused but he won't do it until he either threatens him or has enough manpower.**

 **Anyways, I write you all this story because I enjoy it and want some other people to enjoy it. If you don't like it then politely leave like respectable people and don't come back if you still hate it. There is nothing good from people that just stay here to bash on my story because they have nothing better to do. Don't need that kind of shit in my life.**

 **Well, that's all she wrote for this. I hope you all remember the golden rule of reviews and the Gears.**

 **Happy New Year, everyone. Take it easy and I will catch you all on the flip side.**


	22. Chapter 22: The Fall

There were some things that Walker loved. He loved surviving, he loved being around the girls, his Gears, intel that served in their favor, and even just enjoying his downtime. If there was one thing he loved above all else, it was watching a Locust die before his eyes. Which is why he was having such a pleasurable time strangling the life out of this dying Kantus before him. It put up a good fight, it truly did, but in the long run he had managed to outlast it and eventually had the last laugh. It clawed at him weakly as the oxygen began to deprive from its body, there was a dull cracking noise from its neck and a small smile appeared on his face before he applied more pressure. Eventually he grew bored of the victim before him and suddenly applied enough pressure to break its neck with a loud crack and watched the body dangle in his hands.

"That was fun." He said as he let the body drop. He looked around the small Locust camp to see countless bodies staining the ground red with blood and organs. Flies had begun to start to swarm the corpses and the stench of decay began to become heavy in the air. He searched the camp for a bit looking for anything useful before he began to torch it, a sensible person from Remnant would use any type of weaponry they could use to get rid of a threat but he knew what kind of people would go after these weapons. Instead, he torched them, rendered them useless to everyone but his Gears in hopes of snuffing out whatever mistake could be made in the future.

He looked at his scroll and looked at the available supplies for the base and saw his current amount, which was still in the millions as of now. He hovered over a personal icon and clicked on it before reading the description then hit accept. There was a timer that read two weeks from now that another section of the base would be expanded, usually it would take at least a few months but due to the use of knights that were modified as constructors, it would cut the amount of time he would have to wait for that section to be up and running. Granted, they only built the structure but the human and faunus ones would be doing the systems, plumbing, lighting, and etc.

A sniper round whistled by his helmet and hit the target behind him, creating a dull thump on the dirt ground. He didn't need to turn around to see that it was a Wretch that tried to blindside him from the back, all he did was give a thumbs up to the treeline before throwing the torch on the ground and watch the camp go up in flames. There was soft footsteps behind him until the said person was standing next to him and watching the flames eat away at the camp.

"What kind of insane are you?" Ruby deadpanned.

"The bad kind, or the good, depends on the situation." He answered.

"Ugh, it makes it worse since you're so nonchalant about it." She rolled her eyes.

"You know you love it." He smirked.

"Can't say that I don't." She sighed. All he could do was walk back to camp at a comfortable pace and saw him on his scroll again while stepping on the remains of Locust without a care in the world. Instead of using her sniper she asked if he would lend her his for this mission, needless to say it felt significantly different from her own and Crescent Rose. Each shot fired felt like a cannon being launched, the condition of the weapon was pristine despite its looks, and reloading felt just right.

"Damn..." He muttered.

"What?" She asked.

"Don't have enough money for that platform." He answered.

"Which one is it?" She asked, standing on her toes to try an get a better look.

"Command. Supposedly it would have the effective range of two CCT towers instead of just one." He answered.

"You don't already have enough? How much would it cost, anyways?!" She shouted.

"Two billion. I only have twenty-three million." He answered simply. He didn't need to see her face to know that her mouth was open, he only needed to shimmy his hand underneath her helmet to close it for her. He continued to walk towards the camp with a relaxed attitude while her face was burning red, thank the Brothers for these helmets or he would've seen her expression.

An hour had gone by and they eventually reached the camp to see everyone doing their duties while he just sat on a nearby rock that was near the cliff and started to write in his journal, time seemed to fly by as he wrote in his journal. Minutes turned to tens of minutes and that turned into an hour, even that stretched to a few hours. By the time he was done writing in the journal, he had already filled up fifteen pages and still had over a hundred left to write into. It was a very large journal given to him by his uncle, a parting gift before he had went to serve on the front lines during the Second Battle of Ephyra. He doesn't know what happened to him but judging by how that battle turned out, he could only assume to worst.

The sun began to set and he could only admire the beauty of it as it fell over the horizon. No matter how many times he looked at the horizon, he always enjoyed the tropical setting of this continent. It filled him with a sense of peace that somehow pushed back the darkness in his mind and brought a faint smile to his lips. He turned his head a bit to see Ruby writing in her diary on the rock next to him while he just opened his journal again and began to read some of his past writings. Some of them were notes that he had long forgotten, had he not written them down then they would be lost forever.

Before either of them knew it, it was nightfall and they turned in for the night, he stayed up a bit longer though, just reading through his old notes. He preferred to reeducate himself on old knowledge while learning new at the same time, a happy medium for him. There was roughhousing outside near the campfire and it made him shake his head before he set the alarm on his watch.

* * *

Five months passed by and they were heading into the third year of the war yet still nothing happened as of now, the Locust were still underground and they were still alive. More Gears arrived and were on duty, so that totaled to a hundred and fifty Gears on the island. That stronghold should've been taken care of now but something of that size took months of recon before even cooking up a plan to take it down. He was on his laptop doing something that he would call being a good Samaritan before the girls burst in his tent with a excited expression.

"Wha-" He was about to ask before they hauled him to his feet, barely giving him time to grab his laptop and take it with him. Each time he tried to speak they shushed him and led him to the Belladonna household, much to his annoyance, before they knocked on the door. It took a few minutes but the door eventually opened and they saw both Summer and Tai there... for some reason. Seriously, don't they have work to do? Weren't there Grimm to be taking care of? Were there Grimm to be taken care of? Last time he checked there should've been.

Somehow and someway, the girls had convinced both Belladonna parents to have him cook for them, much to his extreme annoyance. Did they really expect him to have all this free time while the Grubs were planning whatever underground? It seems he needed to reeducate them on the matter of time management, because from the looks of it they hadn't a single clue of what that was. He was busy, they were not, it wasn't that hard to comprehend. So not only did they make him cook when this wasn't the time for celebration, they managed to somehow forget there was possibly an invading army underneath their feet planning the extinction of both human and faunus kind.

"Why am I here again?" He sighed.

"We wanted to visit and the girls wanted to spend time with you." Summer answered.

"Seems about right... what am I cooking?" He sighed again. It didn't fly over their heads that he didn't want to be here. From the moment he set his laptop down on the edge of the counter, they got a small glimpse of what he had on there. Supply routes, mission details, his Gears' status, medical supplies, food, and training schedule. The very last thing on the laptop that caught their eye, when he found out what he was cooking, was plans for an orphanage.

"Walker, sorry for intruding but... you're funding an orphanage?" Tai asked, making him stop in his tracks before picking up what he was doing again. It seemed he wasn't being careful enough, they didn't need to know about that.

"Have been for the past eight months." He answered.

"Oh." Summer whispered.

"That's good of you." Kali commented.

"... The place was a poor orphanage and its children starving while the caretakers were begging the council to give them funding." He answered as he mixed some ingredients in the bowl.

"Where has their funding been going all this time?" Ghira asked.

"Towards defensive counter measures against the Locust. In other words they've been funding me more money than giving a orphanage that has dying kids the money they need." He answered.

"That's..." Summer trailed off.

"Wrong? I've been supplying that place with enough food to keep the kids from getting malnourished. I give them medical supplies so they don't die from a damn cold. I'm giving those kids lessons so they don't grow up without a basic education." He said.

"You're essentially helping raise those kids." Tai said.

"... Sure. I'm supposed to drop by after this tour." Walker said as he placed the hamburger on a casserole dish. Summer and Tai could understand why he was so busy when they would drop by sometimes, they would sometimes hear him on his laptop with a chorus of voices on the other end. Had they known he was doing all this they would've helped him out more, taken some of the burden off his shoulders.

"You know you don't need to put all this responsibility on yourself." Summer said.

"I can handle it. If I can handle a battalion of highly trained killers, I can handle this. The caretakers enjoy it when I face time them and drop a quick hello to the kids or at least spend an hour or two with them. The kids enjoy me and either draw pictures of me with them or say they'll become Gears." He said.

"That's nice." Tai said.

"... Sometimes it isn't." Walker replied.

"How so?" Ghira asked.

"There's this one girl... Tanya I think her name was... she's so driven to become a Gear it worries me. I can tell she's an outcast judging by how she's always in the back. I don't want those kids to have to be on the front lines, hell I was hesitant for Ruby to even be on the front lines, but Atlas saw her aura report and wants me to personally turn her into a Gear for them." Walker said.

"That's sick." Summer shook her head.

"I told them I'd kill them if they touched a single kid in that place. Vale's council supported me on that action while Atlas called me too sympathetic. What kind of sick bastard gets a kick out of bringing kids into war?" He scoffed. They saw his fist clench so tightly that it was beginning to crack a bowl and before they knew it, the bowl shattered in his hands and send shards into them.

"I'll go get some bandages." Kali said and left the room. They helped him clean up the broken glass and blood before they led him to the counter where they began to patch his hand up. It took a few minutes but they eventually got his hands disinfected and wrapped up, noticing never once did he wince.

"Was supposed to give the kids a lesson today." He said.

"Is that why you were so hesitant to come?" Ghira asked.

"I spend an hour with the kids teaching them about life. That girl Tanya, her village was destroyed by the Locust and Grimm picked the stragglers off hours later. Supposedly she's the only survivor. Managed to survive three days by herself before a couple of Marines from Vale found her." Walker explained.

"Poor girl." Kali said.

"I enjoy our talks though. She's a girl that doesn't let anything hold her back. In fact all this kids there have either been orphans their whole lives or were orphaned from the Locust." He said. It was then did Kali and Ghira finally realize what kind of man Walker was, he may be violent and reek of bloodlust but he was an honorable man who would do all the heavy lifting if it meant that good people prevailed in the end. He washed his hands and clicked on a tab that showed a supply truck route had successfully delivered its cargo.

"We're proud of you." Tai patted his back.

"I'm not... it's becoming more and more of a struggle to keep those supply trucks safe." Walker sighed as he leaned on the counter and crossed his arms.

"Thieves?" Summer asked.

"White Fang, bandits, thieves, other PMC companies, and what other bad people in the world. I lost two trucks of supplies to the White Fang and a truck to some bandits." He tilted his helmet up and rubbed his face. It was clear he was stressed.

"Have you managed to get them back?" Kali asked.

"The last one, yeah. The other two, no. It's funny how greedy people are when a surplus of supplies is headed to people that need them." He shook his head. Summer and Tai had a very clear idea who would attempt to hijack the last truck, she hadn't spoken to either of them in nineteen years.

"The bandits?" Ghira asked.

"They won't be bothering anybody again. And before you judge me, just think... they didn't exactly need those supplies. It was meant for the orphanage anyways, kids that barely had any food in their stomachs and infections that would've killed them had they not received any medicine. I'm aware that I'm not a good person and that doesn't bother me one bit, but I won't stand by and do nothing while a bunch of innocent people need those supplies." Walker explained.

"What of the White Fang?" Kali asked, she really wanted to know.

"They're usually shoot on sight for my Gears. My Gears react like they've been trained to. I would rather have the Locust take care of the Fang but I've had to take matters into my own hands a majority of the time now, since they're targeting the safe zone and the orphanage. I know who's been orchestrating these failed attacks." He chuckled lowly.

"Taurus." Ghira and Kali seethed.

"He's been trying to get a bead on me this whole time. I'm enjoying this game he's playing. Him trying to capture me or trying to have me assassinated are all series of petty temper tantrums. It seems he's losing control of his men since fifty of them are under my command and more loyal to me than they ever were to him." He chuckled darkly. It was actually funny that when he asked his White Fang defects if they would die for Adam, they immediately responded no but said they'd die for him any day.

"Why?" Tai asked.

"I gave them a purpose. The ones underneath my command saw that there was a more evil threat beneath our feet and out in the world and put their differences aside. When they first joined, they was enough hate on both sides that it would draw the Grimm. That hate was put aside and they truly got to know one another, they went through some battles together, saved each other from death, and made themselves look like heroes. The most Taurus has done for them is give them a gun and a target then telling them to get ready for another assignment without a reason for it. I give them a target with a reason, whether it be White Fang that have gotten too dangerous to live, or a Locust that is starting to become a problem." Walker explained. It was true about that, he made them push whatever feelings they had for their former brother in arms down and told them to get the job done.

The difference between him and Adam was that he comforted them when they returned, he understood that it wasn't easy to put down someone you've grown close to but sometimes life wasn't all about pleasantries. It was a hard and cruel journey that would push some people to the absolute limit. He made his men push through the thick and thin and reassured them that he'd help them should they need someone to come back to. Another thing is that he fought next to his men, Adam didn't.

"Impressive." Ghira rubbed his beard.

"Make no mistake though. My troops know I'm not someone to piss off. I'm hard on them and will sometimes act like a dick but they know in the end I still give a shit about them. I will not tolerate insubordination within my ranks and will quickly punish it if needed." Walker said. Ghira and Kali shuddered at when he scolded them and the other two when they kept judging him and gossiping behind his back. Ghira remembered when he witnessed Walker dislocate the wrist of one of his Gears because to prove a point, then proceeded to fix said wrist in the most grotesque way possible.

"Has Yang pushed you that far?" Summer asked.

"Yang's pissed me off once when she decided to pull a prank on me." He said.

"What'd she do?" Tai snickered.

"She decided to place a bucket of water above my door and wait for me to open it." Walker deadpanned. They all laughed at that while he just sweatdropped at the memory. Some of his other Gears were on the ground laughing when they saw his drenched figure then whimpered like children when they saw his eyes glow that malevolent yellow.

"What'd you do?" Summer giggled.

"Made her scrub the women's bathroom with her toothbrush." He answered. They laughed at that while he just cracked a smile and closed his laptop before placing it in his backpack, he usually carried a backpack for his laptop when JACK wasn't around. Dinner was ready shortly after and he brought it to the table. Jokes were told, stories next, and some other matters that made them enjoy their time together.

It must have been an hour before something loud made them all stop. He got up and peeked out the door before shutting it when he saw something large in the distance that was advancing towards the house. They all looked at him then widened their eyes when he flipped the table and hauled them all behind it. Before they could demand answers from him, a large foot kicked open the door and began firing. From the sound of it, it was a Gnasher which meant it was a Grenadier.

When it stopped firing he sprung up and vaulted over the table. It was in the process of reloading and stopped loading the last shell in and aimed it at him. He maneuvered out of the way when it fired at him and grabbed the barrel then threw it upwards when another shot was fired, taking off a chunk of the ceiling. Both struggled a bit before he brought out his knife and sunk it into the side of its leg, making it roar in pain. His foot slammed against the knife and pushed it downwards in a grisly fashion, cutting the hardened flesh and tearing muscle. It finally knelt down in pain and that was all he needed before he slammed his knee against its face and caved it in a bit before going behind it and snapping its neck with a loud crack.

The body crumbled to the floor with a thump and he quickly picked up the shotgun and Boltok pistol. All of them stood up and saw it dead on the ground while he opened the door a bit and closed it when he saw fire in the distance and Locust emerging. He tossed the shotgun to Tai and the pistol to Kali.

"I thought they weren't this bold?!" Yang gestured.

"The Locust are always bold. Point is we need to get out there and handle this. Worst case scenario we gather survivors head to the evac point." He said as he quickly knelt down and slung the backpack off his shoulders before reaching inside and grabbing a snub pistol and checking the chamber to see a bullet inside.

"Where is that exactly?" Ghira asked.

"Twenty miles from here. Girls, let's go." Walker ordered and they nodded.

"We're coming with you." Tai stood up.

"No, we need to grab our gear and eliminate the Grubs. Stay here and protect the Belladonnas." Walker ordered and shoulder checked the door open. The girls quickly rushed out the door after him while Tai sighed and helped Ghira barricade the doors and windows. He wanted to help but sighed when he remembered that those five had more experience of killing Locust than him. Summer was on the same page as him, she felt worthless doing nothing. She was a huntress dammit, not just a helpless civilian. Her daughters lives were on the line.

"I'm going out there." She rushed to the door and opened it.

"Summer, no!" Tai shouted but fell on deaf ears when her trail of white rose petals was all that was left before the door slammed. He always hated that.

* * *

It took maybe two minutes for them to actually reach camp. His Gears were already ready and heading towards town to contain the threat. He wasted no time to get his gear on along with the girls and catch up to the rest of the Gears, who were already fighting the Locust. In the short span of seven minutes the town was already reeking of death, fire, and smoke. Screams and gunfire were heard and it made him increase his speed but get knocked on his ass when he felt an overwhelming force slam into him. He looked up and frowned when he saw a familiar person in a white cloak get up.

"Dammit, Summer! I told you to stay with them!" He shouted as he quickly got up.

"I'm not staying there while my daughters are out here! I'm fighting!" She shouted.

"This ain't up for debate, just go back to the house and keep them and yourselves safe!" He shouted. Their shouting went on for a minute before Yang got fed up and tore them apart while naturally shifting to her mother's side, Ruby next. They were hellbent on defending her and saying she could handle herself fine, making him curse loudly in anger.

"Fine! Fuck! Ruby, go get her some armor and a Longshot and get her situated. The rest of you, on me." He ordered. Countless time was wasted during that arguing session and he could tell judging by the sight of dead Gears at his feet. A deep, horrible feeling twisted his gut when he saw that and pushed his body more. He slammed into a piece of a fallen house and saw the Locust advancing, behind them were countless dead civilians that made the girls gulp.

A group of Locust spotted them and started to fire at them while avoiding being shot at. One Drone started to advance towards them quickly while shouting at them, only to fly back and land on the ground dead when Yang peeked up and shot it with her shotgun. Bullets whistled over their heads and kept them in cover while they waited for the perfect opportunity to fire back. Blake, Yang, and him suddenly looked up over the cover and began to fire into the small group, taking out a majority of them while Weiss killed the last three that were flanking.

Roars were heard ahead and more Locust sprung up from the ground, two of them falling when sniper rounds caught them midair and made their bodies fall to the ground violently. They were stepped over by others and started to slowly make the group fall back. Gunfire erupted from the alley and killed some of the Locust and made them turn to the alley and begin firing, killing a few of the assailants. He tossed a grenade at the group and watched it explode. some of the Locust were caught in the crossfire of two different directions with little cover and started to fall slowly. Explosions were heard in the distance and screams still echoed in the sky while gunfire barely did anything to drown out the panic. This much negativity in the air should have drawn in a horde of Grimm now, but there wasn't a single one heading in their direction.

The sound of grenades being launched and the Locust splitting into multiple body parts already told him who was in the alley.

"Push!" He shouted then climbed over the cover and began to run towards another piece. The group of Locust were down to ten and were firing in both directions while they started to back up. A few of them fell on the ground with a thump while the last five jumped back into the hole, presumably waiting for the perfect opportunity to gather more reinforcements and strike again but he knew better than to just wait. He wasted not time and quickly brought out a frag.

"Back in your hole!" He shouted and threw the grenade in. There was a few seconds of delay before dirt kicked up when it exploded and sealed up the hole, giving them a few minutes of breathing room. They all quickly regrouped and he could see that JNPR were there along with a few other Gears that were bleeding in some places, the girls were next to him.

"What's the status?" He asked.

"FUBAR. The Locust are hitting everywhere. Penny and Ciel estimated already two hundred are dead and possibly more." Jaune said.

"Shit... get in touch with your sister and her squad and tell them to contact Ash. Tell them it's the Jungle Contingency, they'll know what to do." Walker said. Jaune nodded and ran off in direction of the Locust. When they were long gone, he turned to the girls and gestured towards the house.

"We're not going-" Yang started.

"THIS AIN'T UP FOR DEBATE!" He bellowed, making them jump. They hated leaving him out here but understood what he needed them to do. Before any of them could voice their opinion he was already off killing a group of Locust and assisting Gears along the way. Civilians were either hiding in their homes or were dead in them. This was a battle they might not win.

* * *

The night sky was still illuminated with flames and the sound of gunfire still echoed in the sky. This was like the breach in the safe zone except on a more dangerous scale, the Locust weren't playing around this time, they were playing for keeps and by the looks of the situation they might actually get to keep this place. His gut dropped a bit when he heard that several more Gears were overwhelmed and had died to the Locust, his mood soured when he heard more Locust were pouring out of holes or creating a couple of new ones, each one larger than the last. Thirty of his Gears died already and some were injured to the point where they couldn't fight anymore. Hundreds of civilians were dead either in their homes or in the street.

He felt someone slam into cover next to him and turned to see it was Ilia, she was alone covered in blood. How was it that a White Fang scout turned Gear was able to last longer than most of his troops when they had dealt with Locust before?

"How the hell are you still alive?!" He asked as he peeked up and fired into an oncoming Locust.

"You expected me to die?!" She cried out.

"Either that or run away!" He retorted. She didn't know why but hearing that stung a bit, is his trust of her really that low? A part of her could understand, she really just became a Gear around a month ago. She had passed the test and everything, but he was still so full of distrust of her that she didn't know whether to lower her head down in shame or try to tough it out. She'd prove him wrong, she'd prove that she was able to be trusted like every other Gear.

They saw on the other side of the road was another squad of Gears guarding civilians. He gave a loud whistle to get their attention and gestured for them to start to head towards the Belladonna house, where a rather small safe zone was being established under constant fire. They nodded as he counted down from three then threw down a smoke and waited for it to explode while Ilia threw in a frag, hoping that it would be able to kill at least a good bit of the Locust.

The Gears and the civilians took this opportunity to lead the civilians back to the miniature safe zone, a stray bullet tagged one of the Gears' legs and made him fall to the ground. He was picked up and was helped up and the group of ten slowly retreated back to the safe zone while firing back at the horde. When the smoke cleared, both could see that there was a rather large amount dead while more seemed to come up down the hill.

A frag clattered next to them and both their eyes widened before he tackled her into an alley when it exploded. They quickly got up and went took cover around the corner of a house as soon as some Locust appeared, they were slowly being pushed back and starting to run low on ammo. Sticking a frag to the supporting beam of a house, he then tapped her shoulder and gestured for her to start heading back to the house. She nodded and started to jog back to the house, followed by him as they shot any Locust that got in their line of fire. The grenade exploded and the building collapsed, blocking the Locust for a few seconds and crushing a few that were foolish enough to try and follow them.

She started to fall behind as her lungs started to burn before she fell to the ground when a shot slammed into her thigh. A Kantus laughed darkly as it raised its foot and she closed her eyes before opening them when she heard the sound of a chainsaw revving and the Kantus begin to writhe around in agony when he came up behind it and drove the teeth from its crotch to its shoulder. Both halves fell the the ground and he picked up a nearby Hammerburst and shoved it in her arms before grabbing the collar of her armor and began dragging her.

"I pull, you shoot!" He ordered. She nodded shakily and aimed it at the oncoming horde that was firing at them. She began to fire into the horde and killed some of them but when one fell, another two took their place and started to advance towards them. Either the Locust were bad shots or he was dragging her at an extremely quick pace. She reached on her belt and threw a frag right in the middle of the group and killed some of them, the ones that didn't dodge anyways, before firing again. The moment they rounded the corner, her vision started to fade and she felt tired. The blood loss was beginning to get to her.

"Fuck." He said as he kept dragging her. The Gears near the makeshift metal barrier saw them and gave the two of them covering fire as he dragged her behind cover. Her head slumped and one of the Gears tended to her before widening their eyes when they saw more Locust come out. At this rate, they'd be dead if they didn't get inside. Despite the look of the exterior, the Belladonna family home was a lot larger on the inside and was currently housing a large quantity of scared civilians.

"Get her inside, go!" He shouted and started to spray, just to keep the Locust occupied while they got her inside. He heard his name being called and saw more Locust start to quickly rush him before he shook his head and booked it up the stairs. The doors were wide open and all it would take was a stray frag to do serious damage to the civilians inside. Everyone near the entrance could see that he was running with a Locust on his tail. When he was at the top step he quickly revved up his chainsaw and quickly swung it around, mutilating the nearest Drone's neck then kicked the body away before he peppered the next one. That one fell away and he backed up while firing all that he could before the heavy wooden doors closed.

The civilians panicked when they heard the door slam and shake as the Locust shoulder charged it, trying to get in while the Gears aimed their weapons at it and the windows and other openings. He ordered them to find whatever they could to barricade the windows while he and a few others handled the doors. Time seemed to come to a halt after they had spent the last thirty minutes barricading the windows and walls before any of the Gears lowered their weapons. It was only then did they finally feel the adrenaline start to wear off and they collapsed onto the ground. He was the last one to lower his weapon before he leaned against a wall and slumped down before getting a good look at the remnants of his Gears.

Out of the eighty that had come here, only his original ones and two other squads of Gears remained. Half of his forces were gone in the span of three hours due to being overwhelmed. This wasn't even like the breach, this wasn't the Locust toying their defenses, this was a full scale invasion that they knew wouldn't win. There wasn't a choice now, they had to leave the island before they ended up dead. He didn't want to call the rest of his Gears due to how inexperienced they were. The ones back at base were pretty much green as grass and calling them would've been a wasted effort.

"Boss?" Jane said quietly. Everyone could see that his head was slumped and his arms were resting on his knees.

"You get in touch with Ash?" He asked.

"He said he'd be able to get to us in two to three days, more likely the latter. This many people needs an airship and an armored one at that. Without that armor we won't survive." Jericho said.

"So in other words they didn't take me seriously when I said I need an armored airship for evacuations like this?" Walker asked.

"Seems so." Jane sighed.

"How many survivors we have?" He asked Penny. She did a quick scan of the room and included the ones cramped in all the rooms.

"One hundred and thirty-three." She guessed. He listened to everybody's report before he perked his head up and gestured for Penny to come closer.

"You see Rachel or her grandmother?" He whispered.

"Not that I'm aware of. I've counted every single person in this place. Why are we whispering?" She asked.

"Who was on that side of town when the Locust sprung up, because I vaguely remember sending a team out there to patrol." He whispered again.

"Team SSSN and BRNZ but the latter was on their way back to the camp after purchasing some things from the vendors." She answered. His stomach twisted when he heard that. If he recalled correctly, that part of town should've been somewhat safe from the Locust meaning that a majority of the civilians there could've been saved. So why were a bunch of them from the more attacked part of town the ones alive at the moment? Something wasn't right, a team of Gears should be able to get a group of civilians out in the span of five to seven minutes, yet he heard nothing from SSSN. Neptune and the other three reported what had happened, Sun didn't. They whispered to him that he had gotten surrounded with civilians then later appeared without any, claiming they had died.

The Locust had backed off but he knew they were still outside, not in front of the house but they were roaming the city while killing a civilian or two that weren't found by the Gears or guards. He got up and gestured for the girls' parents to follow him into a separate room and shut the door. Once the door was shut he sighed deeply at sat down on the ground, gesturing for them to do the same. It was quiet for a few minutes before that eventually turned into an hour before he spoke up.

"... I've got good news and bad news." He said and saw them look at him. "Locusts have Seeders and Brumaks, we were lucky to even have made a stable connection to Ash before the interference kicked in.." He informed.

"The good news?" Ghira asked.

"That was the good news." Walker said. Their hearts sunk, specifically Summer and Tai's. They had seen a Brumak in the distance one time and it was massive, so much that it could crush a Goliath in a couple of swipes.

"Bad news is that this many people is going to start a conflict. They're scared, tired, hungry, and most likely angry. One person is all it takes to influence others and from then on it's a problem. I only got fourty-three Gears. We can't be peace keepers and defend you all at the same time." He said.

"What else is there?" Kali asked.

"We're running low on ammo and supplies. A couple of Gears are going to camp and scrounging what they can while I go into town and look for survivors." He informed.

"By yourself, are you crazy?" Tai asked.

"Yes, I need to find Rachel and her grandmother." Walker answered.

"But going by yourself is suicide!" Ghira voiced.

"The less people I have with me the better. Look, I'm not asking for much but just keep everyone civil." He said. They stared at him for a while before nodding when they came to the conclusion that he needed them to do this, he was almost at his limit right now and he needed them to pick up some of the slack.

"We'll do it." Summer said.

"Good, I'm going to take a breather before I get ready. I'm counting on you four." He said and walked out the room and back to the entrance. It was going to be a very busy couple of days.

* * *

JNPR had injuries to tell stories about. Jaune had a gash running from the right side of his nose to his cheek and another one a about an inch or two from the corner of his mouth going down to his chin. Pyrrha had one on her collar bone, Nora had one on her upper thigh, and Ren had one going from the corner of his forehead down to his left eyebrow. The others had a series of wounds that would heal in time but they hurt like a bitch at the moment.

Aside from that, they were entrusted to gather supplies from camp and bring them to the manor. Jane's squad was running with them so it made things a tad bit easier. What they mainly needed was ammunition and other supplies that would last them until they could evacuate everyone. Jaune was given Walker's backpack to stuff some important documents in and grabbing ammo for them. They had their orders so they had no choice but to carry them out to the best of their ability.

The others were guarding the manor and keeping a close eye in the distance. Summer and Ruby were keeping a close eye on Walker as they watched him sneak by every Locust patrol on the way to Rachel's house, it wasn't long before they lost sight of him, leaving them to a worried filled state. They would cover him the moment they saw him with heat on his back.

The moment he entered the house his heart sank. Lying dead on the ground was Isabelle, while her death wasn't brutal like some of the others, she didn't die in such a pretty state. A simple large hole in her head made him look away and look around the house. As he was about to leave he heard something close and turned to see a rather large chest open slightly before shutting. He quickly went up to the chest and opened it, jumping backwards when Rachel threw a knife at him and was about to scream but had her mouth covered by him. She panicked for a minute before realizing who was standing in front of her.

Her eyes watered before she engulfed him in a hug, crying her heart out quietly while he just held her. It didn't take a genius to tell that she had witnessed her grandmother being killed and it certainly didn't take an idiot to tell that she was terrified. All her worst fears became reality and she was truly alone, alone in this hell with not a single family member alive. His heart sunk further when he realized she had the short end of the stick of life; no family, no friends, not even a simple stranger willing to help her out when it all boiled down to it.

He told her to grab whatever she could and place it in a backpack while he did the same with a duffel bag. What she grabbed was clothes, hygiene items, and some personal stuff to remind her of her family. He merely grabbed food and other supplies that could help what little the people had there. It was a shitty thing to do but they needed to survive, it didn't matter about winning this battle anymore, what mattered was survival. They would do scouting runs for food and supplies when the Locust patrols were at a low and come up with an escape plan in the meantime. Once he had pretty much stuffed his duffel bag up to the point where it would barely close, he grabbed Rachel's hand and led them outside and into the shadows.

Both of them avoided the patrols by creating distractions and hiding behind cover. He wouldn't risk a firefight with her being next to him and there was already enough death for one night. Her stomach sank at the sight of so many dead people that she vomited a few times in the grass. One instance they had to hide underneath a house for half an hour due to a rather large patrol roaming the streets. It so happened that they hid underneath a house that held survivors and had the "pleasure" of hearing the Locust kill each one in a brutal fashion. He covered her mouth to keep her whimpers from alerting them and waited for them to pass.

They finally reached a house that was directly next to the manor but there was a problem, two Drones were standing in front of them. He told her to wait and placed his bag down next to her before quietly running up to the two and stabbing the back of their knees. When they knelt down in pain he threw his combat knife and Bayonet into their trachea before they could utter a single noise. Quickly going back to her and the bag, he grabbed them and made a run for it. Once he was up to the door, he kicked it five times and heard stuff being moved before it opened. They squeezed inside and he helped the others move the bookshelves back into place.

JNPR and Jane's squad had returned with a hefty amount of ammunition and supplies. It kept his Gears satisfied and even some of the civilians while he dropped the duffel bag and zipped it open, revealing he had been getting supplies. All of his Gears sighed at his return and a lot of the civilians saw that they looked up to him, he was their boss and family, to see him go missing would mean there would be a major hole in their hearts. This was possibly the worst thing to ever happen to the faunus since the Great War and the recent activities of the White Fang.

Rachel pulled his hand and he knelt down to her level before she hugged him. All he could do was provide her with the little comfort he could. Pretty soon both Kali and Ghira took her into the other room and began to comfort her the best they could, Summer and Tai joining a bit later. The second they left he went down near the entrance hallway and leaned down against the wall. His Gears shortly joined him after and it was time for them to comfort him. They knew he was blaming himself for not handling the Locust sooner and they didn't hold it against him, they knew how large that stronghold was and going in blind would've been suicide and they wouldn't have lasted this long had they been killed.

"Fifty eight hours... we just need to hold out for fifty eight hours." He said.

"... We couldn't have called for the rest of the Gears?" Nebula asked.

"They would've died before they even set foot on the ground. Seeders are used to jam communications and take out any air vehicle. If they survived the crash then the Grubs would've finished them off." He answered.

"So much death... I'm surprised the Grimm haven't showed up." Pyrrha said.

"That's what worries me. When was the last time you all seen a Grimm during a mission? Last time I talked to Ozpin, he said that there were barely even Grimm... like they all were beginning to disappear." He said. That got them thinking, were the Locust killing Grimm or were the Grimm simply too afraid of the Locust to even make an effort to try and take them? Something wasn't adding up.

"We'll figure it out in the morning, get some sleep everyone." He ordered. They nodded and slumped down next to him, this was the beginning of the end for Menagerie.

* * *

Over the next forty hours a lot has happened. First being the Locust seemed to take a sick sense of enjoyment in having them all in the house, the second being it seemed the Belladonna home had a massive tunnel system in the basement that would serve well for an emergency escape, and the third being the transport would be here eighteen hours. They had been making extremely, and even surprisingly well, supply runs while avoiding Locust patrols. The only main issue was what to do with the White Fang members that had attempted to assassinate Ghira and Kali in their sleep.

"...I have no words to describe how stupid this whole assassination attempt is." Walker said. Ghira and Kali were glaring at the members while Summer and Tai closed the door behind them and stared at the assailants. They were in a private room tied up to chairs while he just sat in front of them.

"Then you don't know how cowardly they are." One of them spat.

"Not as cowardly as you since you three are hiding among some civilians. Hell, even the ones who try to assassinate me have more balls than you three." He retorted. They shouted profanities in his face while he just sat there without a care in the world.

"Mr. Ronin." Ghira gestured. Walker looked and knew what he was implying and nodded before standing up and going behind the desk to grab a blowtorch. The three widened their eyes when he suddenly ignited it and brought it close to them.

"I've had my fair share of interrogations and let me tell you a blowtorch is a very, very, VERY painful way to go. Heat a person's skin enough and they start to bubble and burn from the inside out. Expose them to enough pain and they'll eventually faint from the loss of blood to their brain. They can wake up on dime with a quick shot of adrenaline and the fun can continue. Do you want to see what I can do with a combat knife, a blowtorch, and a very severe case of mental instability?" He asked them as he got closer and closer. At this point they were shaking in their chairs with fear in their eyes. All it took was him heating up the knife to the point where it glowed for them to spill their guts and tell the five what they wanted to know.

Ghira and Kali were disgusted that it was in fact Taurus who had initiated this assassination attempt but it made their blood boil to hear that the brothers were going to do it themselves had they not been killed, leaving these three to try and do it. Summer and Tai could only shake their heads at this.

"Do you three regret joining the Fang?" He asked, watching as they quickly shook their heads in fear. "Glad you do but I'm not the one who is going to make the judgement call here... it's those two." He pointed to the Belladonna parents before leaving the room. He heard claws being extended and the sound of flesh being scratched, making him shake his head. They weren't dead but they were very injured and it was made clear that they would be left behind rather than have resources wasted on them. A deep sigh escaped his lips when he looked at the many faces all around. There was chatter on his radio and he listened a bit before he gave a sigh in relief when he was informed that a couple more hundred survivors had been spotted from a recent fly by. They had fled into the forest to avoid the death but were having complications.

The evacuation was arriving in eighteen hours and if they wanted to get out of here then they needed to start getting packed and on the move. It would be a long journey and waiting until the last minute meant they could miss their window. Ash made it very clear that if they stayed too long then the Locust would know and move on them, effectively sealing their fate. They had enough supplies, the fallen Gears' tags, and everything from camp with them. It was a very generous window in his opinion and the airbuses were small enough to slip under the radar as opposed to the airship he wanted.

He gave a very loud whistle and got everybody's attention.

"Listen up, people. We have approximately eighteen hours to make it to the evac point and get off this island. We take the tunnels for the most part and trek a couple hours from the woods. It takes a total of ten to actually reach the point and that's with numerous breaks. As long as we don't encounter any Locust or wildlife then we should make it within a reasonable time." He informed. They nodded at his brief instructions of the plan and he leaned on the railing, the only thing that worried him was the layout of the tunnel. One little thing at a time... just one step at a time.

* * *

The tunnels were quite large, around fifteen feet tall and twenty feet wide. It was quite a drop and some of the injured had trouble getting down but managed to after a while. Once they were all down there he turned on his flashlight and aimed it ahead, it was dark and damp, perfect for a Locust patrol. If the Locust haven't found this place then they were lucky but considering how large that stronghold was under the city, chances were that they already knew of this place. As they began to walk through it, Ghira educated him on the layout and purpose of the tunnels.

The tunnels were built a few decades ago and had been kept hidden from the public until he stumbled across some documents regarding the purpose. It was an evacuation tunnel meant for situations like this, not for the Locust but rather in case an invading force came to Menagerie. No one had used these tunnels in years though, so there was no telling what was down here. The only reason Ghira built his house on top of it was to seal it up, he never expected to actually use it though.

"Walker, are there any Hollow creatures that can dig tunnels?" Summer asked.

"Corpsers. Locust use them as the main digging tool to get behind enemy lines undetected." He answered as he aimed his flashlight down one tunnel then another before continuing.

"What do they look like?" Tai asked.

"Imagine a thirty-six foot spider with armor on." Walker answered. They could only shudder at that, how many creatures were there that could be this nightmarish?

It must have been a few hours since they all started and eventually they came across a rather large split in the tunnel. He whistled and Penny was next to him in a heartbeat, startling a few others but her movements. She was an odd one but he didn't care, she was an expert in robotics and the medical field which made her standout from some of the others. It took her all but a few seconds to understand what he wanted before tossing two drones out. They hovered up in the air and shot in both directions, disappearing for a few minutes before returning to her hands.

"The left path. The right is blocked off by what looks like a cave in." She said. He nodded and aimed his weapon ahead again before continuing in silence. Time passed by and everyone's feet hurt from walking, he was used to it at this point but even he could feel the effects a bit.

"Ciel, what's our window looking like?" He asked.

"We have two hours until the airbuses get here, if we keep going at the pace we're at we'll reach it in an hour and a half." She answered. He nodded and gestured for them to continue on a little bit before they eventually found a spot where they could rest and had plenty of cover. A lot of them were relieved and were all too eager to finally sit down and rest, him included, he was no exception. Ten minutes into the break and he was staring blankly in the tunnel ahead of them. His vision warped and he suddenly found himself in his room on the Sovereign, staring at the spot where his dad used to sleep, only to find it empty. He looked down and saw those black COG tags dangling in his left hand.

His vision warped back to normal and he saw that in his hand was the COG tags from his father. Looking at his watch to see that thirty minutes passed by quicker than he had expected, his voice was amplified by the silence of the cave. Some of the civilians groaned along with some of his Gears but they were quickly silenced by him, he was not in the mood for their bullshit today. Silence basked them all for a while as they just silently trekked through the tunnels again. Someone must have been antagonizing one of his Gears because before he knew it, Jane was in a arguing match with one of the guards. No one could stop them, not even Jaune.

Before he could even step in there was a horrible shriek of unadulterated fury echoed throughout the tunnels and made his eyes widen. The civilians tightly pressed together with the Gears while staring in the direction of the shriek. His grip on his weapon tightened to the point where he was afraid he would break it. He knew that noise anywhere, it was something only a hulking behemoth could make.

"Shh! Quiet!" He ordered loudly as another shriek rang out.

"What was that?" Ghira asked.

"A Berserker. She can hear us... she can smell us." Walker answered while aiming his weapon in the direction and maneuvering through the crowd to go next to his Gears, followed by Summer and Tai.

* * *

A massive foot slammed on the ground while chains were holding back the arms of a hulking creature. Two Drones were holding the beast back but were having an extremely difficult time doing so. The blood on the chains from the previous victims made their grip slip slightly. She struggled for a few more seconds before suddenly calming down, making them look at one another then back at her.

She raised her head and sniffed the air a bit before her milky eyes seemed to shrink in fury. Her head was thrown forward and she gave a horrifying, furious shriek before twisting her hand around and grabbing a hold of one of the chains around her arm before yanking it and throwing the Locust on her left arm into a wall. The impact alone killed him and the other Drone was suddenly up in the air before his head slammed against the wall, turning him into a red paste.

Now that the chains were off her arms she gave another furious shriek and charged forward, straight into the wall with reckless abandon.

* * *

Everybody was inwardly panicking as they stared in the direction of the shriek. One of the guards began to panic horribly and started to utter an incomprehensible sentence before rushing in the opposite direction of everyone, ignoring the orders for him to stay together. It was clear he wasn't thinking straight, fear clouded his mind and it would be the last thing on it before he died.

The wall suddenly exploded the moment he went around the corner and a light could be seen from fire. Everyone's eyes widened when they saw a hulking behemoth pick him up and slam him on the ground repeatedly. It ignored his screams as it ripped his legs off and slammed him on the ground once more. His torso was ripped in half and he screamed once again before giving one final one as his head was savagely ripped from his shoulders. They saw his head violently thrown into the wall and bounce off of it and roll off a piece of rubble while the remaining of his corpse was ripped apart even further. All while those savage, angry snarls were heard.

"Oh my god." Summer breathed in horror. She voiced everyone's thoughts when they witnessed the brutal end of the man, the blood on the walls dribbled down in a viscous manner and they could see her form stomp away. Even his Gears were scared, those sounds it was making was of pure hate and rage, nothing else.

"Gears, continue forward and get these people outside." He ordered.

"What about you?" Winter asked.

"I'm going to try and lure her away." He answered, making some of them widen their eyes.

"Fuck that, we're going with you." Cardin said.

"Negative, your objective is to get these people out of here. The airbuses will be here in two hours. She's blind as a bat but her sense of smell and hearing surpass even a faunus. If she gets a whiff of you then she'll beeline it straight for you guys. I never said I'd die, just distract her long enough for you all to get loaded up." Walker said. That horrifying, furious shriek made them all look at him and nod shakily while they led everyone outside. Winter, Tai, and Summer were the only people to stay behind, making him sigh at them. Everyone else was at the edge of the tunnel except those four.

"Move out." He whispered and began to silently stalk down the tunnel.

"So, what's the plan?" Winter asked.

"Well, unfortunately, all we gotta do is get her to follow us." He answered while vaulting over a piece of rubble. It was silent as they went through a tunnel then turned right into one of the entryways. They turned left and began walking before the wooden door suddenly exploded and the Berserker's form was covered in splinters. She sniffed the room a bit before her blind gaze fell on them, giving out a loud shriek and charging. They all dove out of the way as she rocketed past them and slammed against the wall, caving it in slightly.

They watched as she slammed her fists and arms against the ground in fury before heading to another corridor and into a bigger room, pillars acting as supporting beams for structure. It was a dead end but it had enough room for them to maneuver around her without getting hit. They were backed against the wall and he fired a couple of times to draw her in, it worked since they could hear her stomping. When she was in the doorway and spotted them, she started to beeline it towards them at a speed that betrayed her size. So much anger in a being that it actually scared Winter.

"We got her attention, now what?" Tai asked.

"Burn her armor then fire all that you have at her. It's the only way to do some damage to her." Walker answered. He reached in one of his pouches and pulled out a small incendiary grenade Ruby had cooked up for him and threw it forward. It landed straight on the Berserker and set her ablaze, heating up her body until it glowed with heat. A series of painful shrieks made them start firing at her, seeing globs of blood fly out of her vulnerable skin. The blood was soon replaced with sparks when she cooled down and her armor returned to its normal durable state, throwing her into a blind rage once more. They were spread out to avoid her doing any real damage to any one of them. This would be described if you gave a Beringel Yang and Tai's combined anger and multiply that and slam a faunus' enhanced senses into the mix. You get this creature.

It was terrifying.

Summer was backed into a corner and the Berserker charged straight forward, only to slam into the wall when a mass of rose petals shot past her. Winter threw a grenade at her again and set her armor on fire while the other three shot at her, throwing more blood from her body as rounds entered it. Another shriek of fury made them look to see her charging at an alarming rate. Winter threw another grenade and by some outside force, it was punted away and exploded on one of the pillars. That was her second to last grenade too, all he had were some frags but that would barely do anything against her hardened skin.

Tai's shotgun jammed and he slammed the side of it while throwing curses. Those horrible shrieks made him look up and widen his eyes when he saw her charge straight for him. She reared her right arm back and threw it forward, only for him to be pushed out of the way and into the corner while Walker took the blow for him. Time seemed to slow down as his body was airborne before slamming into the wall violently, making the wall crack. He slid down it and crumbled to the floor while blood seeped from the edge of his mouth before globs were coughed up and were running from the openings of his helmet.

He heard his name being shouted but it was muffled by the trauma, gunfire, and shrieks. His vision started to darken slowly, it took a few minutes of just lying there in pain while watching the others fight the beast before it slowly faded to black. It was a dark, cold place that his mind was stuck in. No shout, no slur, not even a simple plea for help was heard in this place. This was death, did he die? Was he in limbo or a special spot in hell for him? He didn't know... all he knew was that the place he was in kept him from doing his job. He confirmed that this was the stage of his death; dying in a damp, musty, tunnel system that hadn't been used in decades. Maybe it was time to call it quits, hang up the rope and finally be with his family.

He was powerless, weak, unable to finish the job he started trying to be a hero.

.

.

.

 **"Bullshit."** He muttered. A deep, burning hatred bubbled up in his system and was threatening to explode at any moment. His helmet lights turned that malevolent yellow but had wisps of a yellow trail flowing from them. Something felt different about him now, he's felt this kind of anger before, something horrifying that seemed to wriggle in his veins and warp his mind. There's only been a couple people who've seen this side of him... they said they never want to see it again, even if they had been in numerous battles with the Locust. This side of him scared them more than genocidal beings.

He raised his hand in the air shakily before planting it on one of the broken pieces of the wall and hefting himself up. The others were still having a hard time battling the Berserker that they didn't seem to notice him limp in the sidelines until he was next to Winter. She jumped in fright when she heard that rasping breathing from him then had a second to look at him before he pulled her last incendiary grenade from her belt and began to limp in the sidelines once more. While the others kept the Berserker occupied and recklessly charging them, he waited for the perfect opportunity to strike.

When she charged near him and slammed into the wall, he quickly and shakily jumped on her back before slamming the incendiary grenade onto her. Naturally, she flailed around like a wild animal while he did his best to hold onto her. When she was set ablaze, he began to pull the pin on the frag, spurting out blood from his mouth when she slammed her back into the wall and crushed him, breaking a few of his ribs in the process. He almost let go but steeled himself and reached around then stuck the frag in her mouth. She bit onto it hard and gave more snarls before they were cut off when the grenade exploded. The blast threw him into the wall once more, making him actually vomit blood this time.

Due to her being weakened severely and the fact that she was still on fire, the grenade managed to take out a majority of her skull and mutilate the soft flesh inside. Her arm flailed around as did her other one for a few seconds before she collapsed on the ground with a thunderous thump. Summer, Winter, and Tai all breathed in relief that the monstrosity was dead and gave a few exhausted chuckles at one another. They heard the sound of rubble being moved and widened their eyes when they saw his bloody figure rise from it. It was covered in dust and blood, and some rather nasty bruises were beginning to appear.

"W-We got h-her?" He coughed hoarsely. They nodded and he gave a few wheeze-filled chuckles before limping towards the door. Each one was low on ammo and tired but they couldn't consider themselves as injured as him. He was literally at death's doorstep but he was still breathing. They traveled through the series of corridors for a few minutes before Winter received a message from Weiss saying that the remaining survivors were found and that the transport had arrived. Before she could answer Weiss' other question she heard painful coughing and turned to see him tilting his helmet up then spit out a massive glob of blood before shuffling forward.

"Kid, here." Tai said as he and Summer went to him but he shook his head at them. They didn't take no for an answer and put his arms around their shoulders.

"I'm... good..." Walker wheezed out. They saw him lean against the wall and shuffle forward but widened their eyes when they saw a trail of blood being painted on the wall. After ten minutes of walking they finally came across a light to the outside.

"We're almost out, kid." Tai said.

"That's good... you three go meet your family... I'll catch up." Walker wheezed out painfully. It was hard to hear but they knew he wouldn't take them helping him out for an answer. They nodded with worried eyes before speeding up then they stepped into the light.

When everyone was getting the last of the civilians into the airbuses, some were staying behind for four people. They turned to see Summer, Tai, and Winter step out of the tunnel looking like they went through hell itself and were relieved to see them alive. They spent a minute making sure they were alright before they noticed that one person hadn't shown up yet. They looked around and eventually looked back at the tunnel entrance to see him shuffle out of the darkness. The Gears' eyes widened when they saw his bloody and battered form limp out. Their worries skyrocketed when they heard those painful wheezes echo from his chest.

"W-Why... the... l-long... faces?" He coughed out blood as he limped towards them. He gave a few painful chuckles before his helmet lights flickered a few times then shut off and he fell forward. Ghira caught him before he could fully hit the ground but his eyes widened when he brought up his hand and saw massive amounts of blood caking his hand.

"Oh... Oum." He breathed. They all quickly rushed into the airbus and took off while setting him on some blankets. Penny immediately went to work and was doing her best to keep him stabilized until they got back to base. All of them were crowded around him, each one just staring intently while looking at his battered form.

This truly was the dark time that would forever be etched into history. The Fall of Menagerie.

* * *

In a desolate land that housed the most horrifying creatures of Grimm, the woman known as Salem sat in her chair. Her thoughts drifted to the creatures known as Locust. They were brutal, horrifying, and overall extremely lethal killers that would serve her well. Had they shown any loyalty to her forces, that problem right there made her wary of them. There had been numerous ones brought to her after killing her Grimm and she had tried to coax them under her. When she mentioned they would be serving under a new queen, they reacted poorly. They managed to actually wound her with their weapons but in the end she killed them. It was only when she felt her influence start to slowly die did she realize that they were killing her Grimm at an alarming pace. They were one factor but there was also another one that made her... scared. For the first time in a couple of millenniums did she truly grow scared of what was happening.

This... unknown yellow substance was taking her Grimm from underneath her, twisting them into horrifying amalgamations of themselves. When they were killed by one of her underlings, they would explode into dust. The only difference when they died is that that dark energy when a Grimm died didn't return like it usually did. It was simply gone, like it never existed. Her glowing adversaries were infecting her Grimm like an infection, whenever one died two more would be infected and spread faster. Only her strongest Grimm kept the infection at bay but even some of them were infected and were turned into even more dangerous adversaries. She didn't know what was going on, and it both angered her and scared her equally.

One other thing that caught her interest was the unknown group known as the Gears. Highly trained killers that eliminated a target then disappeared into night like a ghost. They were being led by the man she had a particular interest in, Walker Ronin. A legend in his own field, from what Cinder had told her, he was someone of the unknown. His file didn't match up with Remnant's standards and his fighting capability was on leagues with veteran huntsmen, possibly even greater. She knew he worked with Ozpin, which made him another pawn, but recent events showed her otherwise. He may work with Ozpin but that didn't mean he was loyal seeing as to how he went off the radar. While he was incredibly interesting, he was also incredibly annoying.

Her numerous attempts to find out more information about him ended up in vain. Cinder trying to talk to him ended up in him knowing her name and ties to the criminal underworld. Watts trying to hack into his system ended up in his firewall being increased to the point where another attempt would tip him of their location. Tyrian's phone call ended up with the buffoon giving out his name. Overall, the man was a piece that was to be watched at all times. It doesn't help that he's never shown his face to anyone, not even to those silver eyed warriors.

One thing she knew about him was that his hate for the Locust trumped all others. Each firefight he entered and ended usually would end with him covered in blood and gore, making her even wince when he went against her Grimm. He was bloodthirsty, violent, unstable, and an analytical man that kept his problems to himself. It only made her give mirthless chuckles when she realized he was beating her at her and Ozpin's game without even realizing it. He was that unpredictable and that made him a threat.

Another thing that interested her was that he had no aura once so ever. No matter how many times someone would try to unlock an aura for him, it just wouldn't happen. It wasn't uncommon for people to not have auras in their lives and often go through life without one but that just made them more resilient than any other person. People with no aura had often been the ones to outlast their opponents and were extremely lethal warriors when it came to battle.

This... war was breaking Remnant apart and that's exactly what she wanted. To see this world fall while she remained at the top and watched it burn. Unlike the others ones, this war would bring about her end, she noticed this when she was shot and her hand took days to heal, no matter how much magic she poured into it. This substance that was being thrown into her wasn't of this world, it was of a stronger world that could very well bring about the end of Remnant and her. Her little war with Ozpin would come to an end after thousands of years but neither of them would win. If anything, she'd just be alone with these monsters due to her immortality while Ozpin would just keep reincarnating into either a dying body or not come back at all due to there being no more bodies fuse with.

While she was scared and annoyed with how this game was heading, she was rather intrigued. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad if she just played her cards right, she wanted to see that man burn more than anything and that's what she would do.

* * *

 **Hey, everyone. Happy fucking Valentines day. Don't have much to say so I'll jump right into reviews right now.**

 **axelg7684: Yeah, Red dead 2 was possibly one of my favorite games and that scene inspired me a lot.**

 **sebitor: Yeah.**

 **Wolf: You are correct.**

 **Blaze1992: If they didn't they realize now. Don't get it twisted, they are still punished in a sense and yes, Sun is _still_ a part of the Gears. As for the backlash punishment, that may just now be a thing, you never know.**

 **Malgrath: Here you go.**

 **So thank you all for reading this chapter and sticking with the story so far. It truly is a good feeling when some people like my shit. I apologize if this chapter doesn't meet your standards. So, if you don't really like how this whole story is turning out now, please take the nearest exit and leave politely, I'm not a fucking top tier author. Anyways, thanks for reading and I'll see you guys on the flip side.**


	23. Chapter 23: The time in between

His eyes groggily opened and his vision was hazy. His helmet was off to the side and it made him frown. He really hoped nobody but the bots saw his face, something about showing his face to everyone else just made him uncomfortable. Everything was stiff and he felt weaker than before, muscle atrophy was a bitch to deal with but it was barely a noticeable difference in terms of appearance. Swinging his legs around the edge of the bed, he stood up then collapsed to the floor when his legs gave out due to the lack of use.

"Shit..." He muttered as he shakily planted his hand on the railing and forced himself up to sit up on the bed while taking deep breaths to avoid the pain. His helmet was grabbed and slipped on as soon as the door opened behind him. A few nurses saw him sitting upward and quickly went up to him while trying to usher him back down. One calm order from him made them stop and look at him worriedly. He wasn't supposed to be up right now, especially with his helmet covering his head.

"How long was I out?" He asked.

"Seven weeks. Your ribs should be healed right now and your lung should be healed right now also." One of them said. Forcing his body to cooperate, he stood up and began to stretch a bit, sighing in relief when a pleasurable feeling flooded his body. After a few minutes of stretching his body back to its flexible state, he turned to them and asked who had seen him without his helmet, drawing confused looks from them. He asked again with more force and made them answer in fear that nobody had really seen it, the knights had done his surgery and kept his face hidden for the most part. Turns out his helmet was only removed during today.

"Who gave those bots that programming?" He asked.

"Some of the senior doctors and IT. They figured that if they could do that then we'd be able to get everyone recovered from the Fall of Menagerie faster." The one on the left answered. A deep sigh escaped his lips before he nodded and stood up again, this time with a more stable standing and held up his hand when he stumbled before taking a few more confident steps. They watched him recover on his own before handing him his normal attire of combat pants and a white tank top. Both gave a wave as he exited the room and went down the hall, maneuvering out of the way so that doctors and nurses could do their duties but sent him a friendly wave or two as he walked by. Pretty soon he was out of the complex and in the parking lot of it, where he saw his personal truck.

As he went around the back, it suddenly reversed and collided with his body, throwing him about a yard and resulted in him landing roughly on his back.

"Ow..." He winced while looking up at the sky. He heard panicked shouting and footsteps before Summer and Tai's faces were hovering over him. These two always seemed to get him hurt one way or another.

"Oh Oum, are you okay?! Dammit, Tai, I told you to look before you pulled out!" She shouted.

"It's hard to see backing out in this thing! You even said it yourself!" He argued. Both of them helped him up and dusted him off while he just stared at them before sighing when he saw his truck being used... by somebody other than him.

"Why are you two using my truck?" He deadpanned.

"Well, it all started-" Tai rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Tai hasn't stopped using it ever since Ruby managed to coax JACK into giving him the keys seven weeks ago." She said.

"Summer!" He cried out.

"And he's been calling it his truck until you woke up." She added.

"Summer, stop!" He cried out once again.

"There's also the fact that he wanted to buy it off of you and has been making some arrangements to have the Gears sign a survey to make you cough up the truck. Not to mention Ghira nor Kali have been able to use it." She checked her finger nails before sticking her tongue out at Tai. They didn't need to see Walker's face to see it had a deadpan expression. A few seconds went by and he stuck out his hand, making Tai give a cry in defeat when he dropped the keys into his hand. They saw him go back into the hospital for ten minutes before coming back out with a bag full of pain medication and some drinks.

"Just let me-" Tai started.

"My base, my truck, my rules. You're not driving, Tai." Walker said as he climbed into the driver's seat. He ignored Tai's pleas to let him drive the truck as they drove to the barracks. He stopped suddenly when a ball flew in front of the car and a child had wide eyes when they saw the massive armored truck stop right in front of them. Some other children rushed up to the child and the ball before uttering quick apologies to him and watched in drive off. A few seconds later he stopped and got out of the car when he realized that they were playing on the bridge, something that was meant for vehicles.

"What are you kids doing?" He crossed his arms.

"We're playing ball." One of them answered as they crowded around him.

"Nobody told you not to play on the bridge?" He asked.

"Well, they did but..." Another one trailed off.

"Kids, this ain't a game. You all fall off this edge then you could die. I'm not having your deaths on my conscious." He said.

"But where are we supposed to play?" A small fox boy asked.

"Near the barracks, there's a big field for you all to play ball there." He answered. They lowered their heads in shame when they realized that he was right, had one of them fallen over the edge then it would've been death that met them. All seven of them were helped into the back of the truck and squeezed together before the door was shut. They saw cases and looked at one another and tried to open it but jumped in fright when he told them to not touch it. The drive to the barracks was smooth and the kids laughed when Walker kept shutting down Tai about buying his truck off of him.

When they arrived, he directed the kids to the field where they could play with some of the others while he just went to the main cafeteria to get something to eat. Summer and Tai stuck close by him and caught him up on what happened over the past several weeks and needless to say it wasn't all that bad. Sure, there were some fights now and then but everyone seemed content with staying for the time being before being shipped out to a settlement that was currently being built. Food was still abundant and there was a steady supply of weapons and ammo for the Gears while new troops were being sent to become Gears. Income was still rolling in smoothly and the orphanage had been sending him cards when they heard about his condition.

When he reached the cafeteria and leaned over the second story railing, setting his head down and closing his eyes in slight pain. He was still in that healing phase and it hurt like a bitch, that didn't include him having to exercise. He'd eat now then exercise shortly after, that shit he had in the hospital didn't sit right with him at the moment. Both of the parents waved him goodbye while he just slowly walked down the stairs and got in line, giving a friendly wave when one of his Gears spotted him and asked how he was doing. It brought a smile to his face when he heard that they were all worried about him and didn't blame him for evacuating Menagerie before everyone there could die. No one blamed him but that couldn't be said the same for himself. There should've been at least something he could have done better to make sure that continent didn't fall.

"One thing at a time." He whispered and sat down at a table and ate his food. Twenty minutes later he finished his food and walked up the stairs, shuffling by the civilians that came to get something to eat. A lot of them found jobs on base and felt very content with staying, some would rather have their families stay here but he couldn't have that. As much as it pained him to say this, he couldn't have civilians here if it meant that there would be no more Gears. While some of them would argue with him they knew deep down that they were packed to the brim and needed someplace else to relocate to, hence why he bought out land near and was currently having a settlement built.

Ten million is what it would cost to have that settlement built correctly and he paid it without a care in the world. In three months a new settlement under his jurisdiction will be built and the survivors from Menagerie would relocate there and start their new lives. His truck door was opened and he quickly got inside and grabbed the pistol under the driver's seat and aimed it in the back seat but quickly dropped it when he saw that it was Neo and Roman.

"Why are you two here?" He sighed as he put the pistol back under the seat before closing the door.

"Managed to get some info on Cinder and the brats." Roman said as he lit a cigar. Neo nodded and began to eat her ice cream but both recoiled when he smacked them in the side of the head.

 _"WHY?!"_ She typed angrily.

"No smoking in my truck and no eating. It's bad enough people keep breaking into it, I don't need other shit in it." He answered and pulled out of the cafeteria parking lot before driving to the Command platform. Both grumbled angrily and waited while just staring out the window and at the base, listening to the sea. Despite them being under his command, he treated the fairly, gave them food to eat and a room to sleep in. They respected him because he could throw them out like any other sensible person for the reason that they were criminals but he kept them.

"Hey kid." Roman called out.

"Hmm?" He hummed.

"Why do you keep us around?" Roman asked.

"You'd rather rot in a prison?" Walker quipped and turned, only to notice that they were actually curious.

 _"Be serious."_ Neo typed.

"... You two are valuable to me. Sure you're liars, killers, thieves, backstabbing people who will double cross me the second they get the chance." He said, making them nod their heads and agree with what he was saying, "But you're people. Some may frown at me for keeping two international criminals around but I could give less than two fucks at what those people think. You're good at your jobs and it's benefiting me in the long run. I treat you with enough respect to where you won't kill me in my sleep and you do the job I tell you to do while enjoying it. So essentially, you're valuable." He answered.

" _So you care about us."_ Neo smirked.

"Sure, I give a rat's ass about you two." He answered truthfully. Both blinked at that, it was really unknown to them that someone else cared about them than each other. For years it had been just the two of them caring for each other but here they just heard him truthfully state that he did give a shit about them.

"As much as your Gears?" Roman smirked.

"You're pushing it." Walker retorted. They pulled into the command center and entered the main lobby. It was rather large due to being the Command center but it also held the rooms for his original Gears. His office was at the top so he could oversee the entire base. Roman handed him the file before he went into his office then left with Neo in tow. He sighed in relief the moment he entered his office and sat down in his chair, turning on his computer and began to go to work. The moment he opened up his report page, he was immediately swarmed with reports from the last several weeks.

"Joy..." He deadpanned and began to go through each one.

* * *

Six hours is what it took for him to finally go through each and every report. Just because he was sitting down didn't mean he wasn't working, he had a lot to do if he wanted this place back to what it was before the civilians were evacuated here. Those applications to become Gears were accepted but he had to delay the training until that new settlement was built in Vale and the civilians were relocated there. After one more hour of being on his computer he logged off and exited the room. He had the wind knocked out of him when he felt an overwhelming force slam into him and knock him onto the ground.

"Walker!" The girls cried out in unison.

"Hi." He winced hoarsely. They began to ask him a series of questions he could barely answer at the moment before being helped up. All of them went back to his truck and climbed in as he just drove to the gym. It was a nice ride there and he enjoyed them worrying about him, they caught him up with what was happening since he's been out and needless to say he was glad they weren't just sitting on their asses all day. Turns out Jaune had taken up the mantle and had been keeping everyone in check during his stay at the hospital. Everyone had been worried when he was out, never really seeing him this injured before. Pretty much all his original Gears kept checking up on him, calling nurses when a problem showed up with him or just simply stayed by his side. He was the big brother of the Gears, despite him being younger than some, they looked up to him.

When he arrived at the gym and entered it, Nora immediately crashed into him and made him sigh when she began to quickly shoot off questions about his health. Not many people knew this but she viewed him as an older brother besides Jaune. She came to him whenever she had a problem that she didn't think nobody else would understand and usually he did. There were times when he kept her from doing something stupid and she was grateful for that, like that time she tried to take on a Mauler with just her hammer, only to take a blow that would've killed her had he not stepped in. Sure he may scream at her and make her feel shameful sometimes but he did so to make sure she wouldn't die, and for that she was grateful.

"Nora, I'm fine." He said as he stood up.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"If I can be swatted by the arm of a Berserker then get crushed against a wall and walk out, this ain't nothing." He answered.

"Okay... do you mind if you tell us how you killed her?" She asked.

"I'll tell you all while I'm getting back in shape. Where're the others?" He looked around to see numerous Gears training and some civilians but not JPR at the moment.

"Jaune and Pyrrha are getting something to eat and Ren is almost here." She answered.

"Alright, well come on then, I need help getting back into shape." He said as he went to a small section of the gym.

"What's this? Walker Ronin asking for help?" Blake asked smugly.

"Hardy har har. Very funny." He laughed sarcastically. They smiled as he went over the treadmill and began to run at a comfortable pace while telling the story. He started off with how it felt to battle a Berserker, what happened, him falling down while coughing up blood, the feeling of rage bubbling up in his chest, to finally killing her by strapping a grenade in her mouth. Without realizing it, he had attracted the attention of more than just the girls. He'd attracted some civilians and some of the other Gears, who looked at him like he was the coolest thing ever. Never once did he stop jogging.

Ruby stopped the timer and it read fifty-three minutes. They wanted to hear more stories and he told some that he was comfortable with as he was doing push ups. She sat on his back while he was doing them and telling the story, it kept his mind off the exhaustion and kept them enraptured. A hundred push ups later and she got off his back before he took a break for a while then going back to working out.

Squats was the next thing he was doing while talking with the girls. Before his injury he was able to squat around almost five hundred pounds but since his muscles had weakened, it was around four hundred and twenty-five, it was still an exceptionally healthy weight but he just felt right when he squatted his maximum. Nora challenged him to a competition when he got better and he accepted it but he made a rule, she couldn't use an ounce of aura to help her. It was all good and fun for the next couple of hours before he called it a day. His body hurt, in a good way, and he could already feel himself coming back to his prime.

The girls climbed into the truck while Ren and Nora climbed into the back as he drove back to the command platform. They enjoyed the tropical climate of the base while he just drove in silence, despite what they had lost several weeks ago, they were happy. He pulled into his spot and got out along with them as they just went to their rooms. He just calmly walked to his room before he felt a hand pull on his and looked back to see Blake have her head down.

"What's up?" He asked. She didn't say anything but just slowly went up to him and clicked the side of his helmet and lifted it up.

"What are you doing-" He was cut off when she suddenly kissed him for a few seconds before hugging him tightly.

"I never got to thank you for saving all that you could in Menagerie." She squeezed him tightly before zooming to her room with a burning red face.

His brain seemed to shut down for a moment before it promptly rebooted itself. For the first time six years, he was truly embarrassed and didn't have a single clue on how to react. Didn't mean he didn't enjoy it though...

* * *

In the upcoming months a lot has happened. The Gears were transporting the survivors of Menagerie to the new settlement that was officially dubbed New Hope. The council of Vale had come to an agreement that even though it was on the land of Vale, it was still in his jurisdiction. They would discuss laws and politics with Ghira while he would be their head of security. When it all boiled down to it though, they knew he was the one in charge and called the shots in the end. Gears and knights would act as protection for the settlement while remaining completely loyal to him. It was quite large and had walls that provided protection from both Locust and Grimm, it even had new arrivals due to more people losing their homes to the Locust. It was a place that provided a new life for the survivors and would eventually be a great thing in the future.

Ghira and Kali had thanked him profusely for his action, as did a majority of the faunus population, and vowed to do something for him one day. He merely waved it off as the survivors were being transported to their new home. Some of the survivors from Menagerie passed the test to become Gears and were currently being trained by him and some of the others. The ones who were on the wait list were officially here and were currently waiting to begin.

Rachel didn't take too kindly to him trying to find her another family. She claimed that he was all she had left and she didn't want anybody to replace her deceased one, he didn't like it but he took her underneath his wing. It was only when he saw her alone reading a journal did he see that fire in her eyes, the flames of hate. Hate for the Locust for taking all that she knew away from her, for causing so many people pain and leaving them either traumatized or hateful. She stuck close to him for the most part, only ever being away from him when she took classes or he requested some alone time. It worried him when he realized how quickly she was learning military tactics, coming up with ones that matched a rookie. Everybody at base knew that she was his prodigy and that her determination to become a Gear trumped some of the other Gears.

That's one thing that made him hesitant to make her into a Gear, the fact that she was so young and held all this hate after her eleventh birthday. He told her that when she was officially sixteen she'd be able to be on the front lines but until then she's behind this base and learning. She had no problem with that and it made him sigh, she was just like some of those children in the orphanage, so fueled by hate and anger that it clouded their minds. They all reminded him of Ajay... when he was four years old and was able to finally communicate he stated that he'd help kill every single Locust. This is what war breeds, children that shouldn't have to pick up a gun and fight. There was no need for that.

Atlas didn't take to kindly to him stating that he wouldn't train some of the orphans, which brought him here now, in front of all the councils and Headmasters.

"For the last time, I'm not training those kids to be Gears. They shouldn't have to pick up a gun in their lives." He sighed.

"Mr. Ronin, just think of possibilities. These children could be the next generation of huntsmen and soldiers." One of the Atlas councilmen said.

"It doesn't matter, people can come up with new ways to become better fighters. Kids shouldn't have to risk their lives for something adults can do, I'm not training those kids or going to train at an academy." He said.

"While I am not against having a new breed of soldiers, these are still children. They still need to grow." Ironwood said. It was true, he wasn't opposed to having new soldiers that matched the Gears in training but he was highly against having young kids conditioned and knowing nothing but war.

"Last time I checked, you were in favor of having new soldiers, General." One of them said.

"I am but these are still children. Ruby Rose may have been the youngest to enter Beacon academy but she was nearly at legal age and had time to grow." Ironwood said. When he said that everything turned into a shouting match, none of the council members were willing to listen to what he had to say nor were the Headmasters. He was so sick and tired of this stupidity, why would he need child soldiers when he had over three hundred highly trained killers at his command? Did they want the public to go against them? Were they that stupid to think this wouldn't have any backlash?

He spaced out for ten minutes while they argued like children before they said something that made him stop. It was one look on the Headmasters faces and the council of Vale did he truly grow angry.

"Mr. Ronin, we're not asking anymore. We're telling you to train those children, train those children to become the next fighters or we cut funding and refuse to send anymore soldiers to become Gears." The Atlas council said.

"So you're willing to deny hundreds of applicants their choice in becoming Gears because I won't train three kids due to their test scores?" He asked.

"Unfortunately, that is correct." Douglass sighed.

"Vale is one this too?" Walker asked in disbelief. They nodded in shame.

"We do not wish to do this." Ozpin said.

"Mistral?" Walker turned to them, only to receive nods from them also. Were these people serious? They were actually thinking about sending children to war because they had displayed a unique aura reading on their tests. He had enough money to last them a while but with how much he spent on supplies and funding for New Hope, it was a massive dent in his pocket in the upcoming future.

"We say this with a heavy heart, Lieutenant." The Atlas council said.

"... No you don't. Don't you dare lie to me about feeling bad because you don't. You've never been on the front lines and felt what it's like to come so close to death, to see a person die in front of you. You all don't know what it's like to experience this, and you want to send children out there. You people disgust me." Walker said as he exited the conversation and closed the tab. His mood took a turn for the worse and he just sat there for an hour in complete silence. Remnant was a disgusting planet full of horrible people and this is what he was fighting to keep from the Locust. He should've just let Atlas fall the moment he stepped foot in there.

There was a knock on his door and he told the person to come in. It was Rachel in her little officer outfit that a couple of the Gears made for her. Her face was still childish but it held maturity that made him frown, she was beginning to turn out like him when he was younger. Back when he found out the only reason he was able to stay in the Army was because his dad started training him at a young age, him going through officer training at the age of eleven and going through onyx when he was twelve. Granted, he still lied to get into the actual Army but he still had leagues of better training than most rookies.

"I uh... heard your conversation." She said sheepishly.

"All of it?" He asked then sighed when she nodded. He sometimes forgot she was a faunus and gestured for her to sit down in one of the seats in front of his desk.

"I have finished my classes for the day, passed my exam with flying colors, and will begin my physical training with you in two weeks." She reported.

"I know, but kid I didn't ask for a report. You came here for a reason." He said and saw her look down, blinking away some tears.

"I miss them... I miss mom and dad, Ian, and grandma." She sniffled. While she was maturing at an alarming rate, she was still a child that had feelings, it wouldn't be very healthy if she was over their deaths already. She was eight years old when he found her in that closet where her parents were killed and the Locust sprang up, ten when he went to Atlas, and eleven when she saw her grandmother killed. It was a miracle she wasn't as traumatized as she should be by all this.

"I know, I know." He whispered and stood up before going up to her and planting a hand on her shoulder. "It's not easy losing family. It leaves a deep wound in your heart at best and a deep dark feeling in your soul at worst. But, kid, if you keep holding onto all this hate and pain then it'll destroy you from the inside out." He advised.

"What am I supposed to do then?" She sniffled.

"Learn to let it go little by little. Each Locust I kill, a little bit of that pain disappears, eventually it'll fade into the background like dust does in the wind." He knelt down. She looked at him with red, puffy eyes before hugging him tightly while he hugged back. He may be a sadistic, somewhat sarcastic, Locust obsessed killer, but that didn't mean he was a stranger to showing empathy towards others. They hugged for a while before he let go and stood up while she just wiped her eyes before putting her cap back on.

"So when are they arriving?" She asked.

"I have to pick them up in about a month. This is disgusting." He scoffed at the idea.

"I... agree..." She forced herself to say.

"Kids as young as you all shouldn't have to pick up a gun. Atlas thinks they have a leash around me, don't think they realized that when you all are here that your under my command. You're my Gears and ain't nothing going to change that." He shook his head and left the room with her.

* * *

When he announced what was happening with the children, all his Gears had been furious. They were furious that the government would allow this and were forcing him into a corner, threatening to cut their resources to keep fighting if he didn't train those kids. This was unrealistic in their opinion. No matter how much discussing he did with them, nothing would deter them from lashing out at the government when they got the chance. He only shut them up when he shouted loud enough to drown out their voices, claiming that they were better than that and nothing could be done now. A quick explanation of what they were to expect were rowdy kids who had no discipline, it was up to all of them to show those three what being a Gear really meant.

Which led up to him and a three others on a flight to Vale in the cold month of October. When they were dropped off at the airport and collected their luggage, all of them followed the driver which held up a sign calling their names and drove them to the designated location. None of them spoke for the ride until they had reached the orphanage, and boy did two specific people hate the condition it was in.

"This place is so horrible." Nora recoiled when she saw the state of the building.

"Nobody has the time to renovate. It doesn't matter though, I'm moving the residents to New Hope in a couple of weeks." Walker answered.

"I'm not complaining but why?" Ren asked, he was genuinely curious.

"Better building, safer, and more people are willing to adopt one of them." Walker answered as he knocked a few times. The old wooden door creaked loudly as one of the sisters opened it and widened her eyes when she saw him in that long winter coat. She could understand why they were in coats this early, it was getting colder as more time passed by. It's crazy how fast time flies when you're busy on either missions or helping out as much as you can.

"Mr. Ronin, it's so glad to see you." She said as she came forward and gave him a hug.

"Likewise, Sister Rebecca." He said as he returned the hug. Nora and Ren just stared at him with widened eyes. When they first heard he was associating with an orphanage, they were taken aback a little bit but when they heard from everyone that he was not only funding it but acting as a part-time teacher, they just had to come and see for themselves. They were orphans too so it made sense that this struck home a bit.

The inside was a lot better than the outside and they could tell that he had a hand in it. All the walls had a fresh coat of paint, the floor looked cleaner, the carpet in the living room area was replaced, food was well stocked, and medicine was abundant. Rachel drew her cap over her eyes some more when some of the children looked at her in that uniform. Ren and Nora jumped back in surprise a bit when some of the kids flooded near them and started gushing over them. Everyone of them though flooded over to him and gave him the warmest welcome they could muster up, him returning it with a friendly greeting.

Two more caretakers came out and greeted the four guests while they gave waves before being led to a private room. It was a large room that held a big table for meetings, often associated with adoption and other meetings. He placed his coat over the chair and sat down before waiting for everyone else to sit down.

"The... I have to pick those kids up..." He said in an uncomfortable manner. The three caretakers nodded stiffly when they heard that and felt their hearts drop. They received news a month ago that he would come pick the kids up and here he was, coming to collect.

"Surely there's something you can do. They're children for heaven's sake." Rebecca said.

"I'm sorry but I can't. All the councils have me backed into a metaphorical corner. Should I refuse to train those three then they cut more than thirty percent of my funding, which often goes to you all." He answered somberly. Everyone could hear it in his voice that he was telling the truth, he really didn't have a choice and they desperately were in need of those funds. He was an honest man that was doing something he wasn't comfortable with.

"I will go get them." One of the caretakers said. It was quiet for a while and he didn't dare to break it. This wasn't an easy thing to do, these kids weren't that damn special to where they should cut thirty-fucking-percent of his income. Eventually she came back with the three special prodigies in tow.

"Congratulations, you three, you've been picked out for training at the Gears base. That's what I would usually say if I was happy." He said.

"You're not happy?" One boy scratched his head. He knew this boy. His name was Ethan, a bat faunus with spiky black hair and was around ten.

"Unfortunately, I'm not. That's besides the point, the point is that you're officially cadets as of now." Walker said.

"E-Excuse me, sir... but we aren't leaving now, are we?" The girl named Tanya asked. She was a shy, blonde human girl with bright blue eyes and was the shortest out of the prodigies as of now. Her hair was a mixture of a mess and a ponytail, an oddly comfortable mixture.

"In a few hours. I promised the caretakers that I'd stay and teach you all a lesson or two." He answered. A shaky hand made him look and slightly buckle underneath the tiny, innocent look of his last prodigy, Victoria. If Tanya was shy then Victoria absolutely had no form of confidence once so ever, it also made sense that both girls were closer than white on rice.

"Yes?" He asked towards the brown haired girl.

"Y-You s-said that we were going to t-train as Gears, correct?" She stuttered out horribly.

"Not until you're older. You'll be studying for a few years alongside Rachel behind the walls of the base." He answered. They all looked at her and she nodded quietly before turning back to her book with a mature expression. She was maturing too quickly in his opinion, she drastically changed over the past several months, most likely due to all that death she experienced. All of them talked for a while longer before he went out into the living room area and sat down on the couch with Nora.

She started to tell one of her outlandish stories that drew the attention of all the residents while he went to help Ren prepare a meal, both boys doing so in silence before Ren spoke up for the first time in a few minutes.

"You're doing a good thing, with the orphanage I mean." He said.

"These kids don't deserve the fate that the Grubs could bring upon them." Walker said.

"I haven't seen Nora tell one of her outlandish stories with this much enthusiasm since back when we were at Beacon." Ren laughed quietly.

"Hard to believe that was three years ago since we were there." Walker chuckled.

"... Back when times were better." Ren said to the side.

"Yeah, back when we had everyone. You all were more worried about me driving you into the grave early than the Grimm." Walker said. This drew a laugh from the both of them.

"Can I ask you a question?" Ren asked.

"You just did." Walker pointed.

"Ha, very funny but I'm serious." Ren said as he looked down at the cutting board.

"Shoot." Walker said.

"... What made you start to invest in this place?" Ren asked, making Walker stop and go quiet for a while.

"Just had this feeling, you know? This nagging feeling that these kids needed help and no one was doing a damn thing. I didn't want this place to end up like those orphanage and other shelters like the ones on Sera." Walker answered truthfully. Ren had a slight idea of this, from what Walker's said about Sera over all, the planet was pretty much a desolate place. To think that ninety-nine percent of the population was wiped out made him feel pity. When he heard what happened to his friend's city he couldn't help but relate.

"I've never really told anybody this but Jaune and Pyrrha but..." Ren trailed off.

"Told people what?" Walker asked.

"Nothing..." Ren sighed.

"Nah, man. You started it, now finish it. I won't judge you." Walker gestured.

"... When we came here, it reminded me of one of the many orphanages Nora and I used to stay in." Ren said quietly.

"You were orphans?" Walker asked. He received a sorrowful nod from the ninja and he sighed when he could only guess what happened to Ren's home.

"My village was attacked by Grimm... my mother died in front of my eyes and my father sacrificed himself so that I could escape... in the end it was just me and Nora left... hiding underneath one of the many houses until it was safe to leave..." Ren said. Tears started to fall onto the counter and Walker's heart sunk a bit when he saw the stoic ninja of the Gears shed tears.

Ren continued to let tears fall when memories started to slowly come back to him. He rubbed his eyes furiously trying to get rid of the tears before Nora saw but she already did, she had kept the children occupied long enough and let them play a game on the TV from her scroll. Originally she was going to help out or pester them about dinner but she saw Ren actually crying. They felt Walker grab their shoulders and lead them back to the meeting room before closing the door. Tears started to well in her eyes when she remembered that day. The death, the loneliness, the pain, even the small amount of comfort in all that. Then the upcoming years of hardships, them going through numerous shelters and orphanages, to the streets and beyond.

"Let it out." He said. It took three words for them to start letting the tears fall freely. They felt ten plus years worth of pent up emotions start to trickle down from systems and go out through their eyes. Both saw him open his arms wide and didn't hesitate to slowly gravitate towards them and engulf him into a group hug. There was a reason they had been so eager to come along, they may have not have known it but he was letting the cry years worth of emotions onto him without a care in the world. They knew he had understood their pain of losing someone.

He was their friend, their commander, but most importantly... he was their family. He'd gladly shoulder their burden if it meant they did something good with their lives, hence it was why most of his Gears valued him the way they did.

"Don't worry you two, I got ya." He reassured.

"Thanks." They smiled in return.

"You two can let go now, my shirt is really wet." He said after a while.

"A little longer." Nora murmured.

"Fine..." He chuckled and let them hug him longer.

* * *

With tearful goodbyes from both parties, they left on good terms. Three prodigies would return back to base and start their training while three Gears would go on a mission later. Tanya, Ethan, and Victoria were extremely shocked by the private bullhead he had at the airport. As they waited for the vehicle to take off, he began to explain to them what they would be doing. The three were a little intimidated by Rachel, basically scaring Victoria into a stuttering mess with her neutral tone on everything. Nora comforted the girl and dubbed her little "cinnamon roll" and kept gushing at her.

Both men could tell she was feeling better after sobbing years of pent up emotions out, Ren too. The flight was long and tiring but when they arrived he was immediately swarmed by almost all his original Gears, each one claiming that they were gone too long.

 _'We were only gone for a week...'_ Walker sweatdropped.

"Oh... my... goodness!" Yang gushed as she picked up Tanya and hugged her tightly. "Who is this little honey bun?" She asked.

"That's Tanya, my protege, and I'd appreciate it if you put her down." Walker shook his head. It took a while but Yang put her down and she went behind Walker's leg along with the other three. Rachel raised an eyebrow at them and wrote in her journal, before yelping in surprise when Yang pinched her cheeks.

"Don't act like that Rachel, you did the exact same thing." Yang cooed while pinching her cheeks. The brown haired protege only whined and tried to remove herself from the grasp.

"Yang, stop! You're making us look bad!" Ruby stomped her foot.

"Aw, is Rubes getting jealous too?" Yang pinched her sister's cheeks and picked her up by the waist Ruby thrashed around for a second before cocking her fist back and threw it forward into her older sister's jaw. They began to fight on the ground while the others sweatdropped at their shenanigans.

"From now on, these three are part of the family. Treat em as they were your flesh and blood." He looked at each of them. All of them nodded before he ordered Jaune and Pyrrha to help him show them their rooms. He promised the girls that he'd spend time with them before they left.

"So the council really went through with it." Pyrrha said as she watched the three new members look at everything.

"Unfortunately. They didn't really give me a choice either, said they wanted them to be Gears as soon as possible." He informed.

"Are we really doing this though? Sending them out like Gears at such a young age?" Jaune asked.

"Of course not. I'm merely teaching them until they're old enough. I may have unorthodox methods but bringing them into the front lines goes beyond my limits." Walker said quietly.

"How's Rachel?" Jaune whispered as he looked ahead and saw her walking calmly while the other three looked around in bewilderment.

"... She's in that depression stage. Her often asking me what the point of fighting was if we were just going to die in the end." Walker shook his head.

"Have you tried to get her to talk to somebody?" Pyrrha asked.

"Sent her to the shrink on multiple occasions. Never utters a word to them but when she's with me, she bawls her eyes out. I've grown used to it, it's not that big of a deal to take an hour out of my day to get her to talk." He shrugged. There was a tug on his hand and he looked down to see Rachel staring at him with a calm expression.

"Are you leaving?" She asked.

"Unfortunately, kid. Got to spend some time with the girls before I go on a mission." He said.

"Oh... are you going to try and get Blake to kiss you again?" She asked cheekily, making his eyes widen. He didn't need to turn around to see the smug looks on Jaune and Pyrrha's faces.

"How do you know about that?" He whispered.

"I see things, be a shame to tell Blake that-" She couldn't finish her sentence due to him shoving her in her room and closing the door.

"Not a goddamn word." He said as he walked by the two and down the hall.

"I think he's embarrassed." Jaune snickered.

"Definitely." Pyrrha giggled.

"Shut the fuck up!" Walker's voice echoed from down the hall while they just laughed at him before retiring to their rooms.

* * *

The girls giggled as they watched Walker walk through the halls with the proteges. He had been teaching them for about two months as of now and they followed him around like a group of ducklings, it was something about the way they looked up to him that made their hearts skip a beat. In fact, a lot of the Gears had to hold in their laughter when the five would walk into the room. A lot of his female Gears gushed at the sight while the male ones either patted him on the back or sent him a thumbs up while greeting the four kids politely.

Walker didn't really mind them following him around, they usually did their own thing when he wanted some alone time or had classes but they were constantly around him. He taught them fairly and encouraged them whenever they sent their mind to something. Rachel looked at him like an older brother figure while the other three looked at him like a father figure for the most part, and he didn't understand why. He reprimanded them when they did something stupid, he encouraged them when they set their mind to something, comforted them when they needed it, and taught them how to survive in the world while still remaining kids for as long as they could. That was just being a good person in his opinion.

The only times they were away from him is when they were sent to classes for the day, when he requested it, or when he was on a mission. After all, he was only one man and he needed to unwind sometimes. The four had gotten closer to one another and really only had interaction with either him, their teachers, or some of his original Gears. There were always times when he practically threatened the teachers to take care of them, often reminding them that he could ruin their lives in an instant should they treat those four with disrespect.

He gave the four their lunches for the day and went through a list of rules that they nodded at. Each one beaming when he ruffled their hair while Ilia waited for them, all of his Gears watching with smirks on their faces.

"Don't cause any trouble, make sure to learn as much as you can, and ask for help, got it?" He asked as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Yes." They nodded in unison.

"Make sure nothing happens to them." He turned to Ilia.

"Y-Yes, sir." She gulped. She began to lead the four to the jeep and take them to their classes for the day. Once they were gone from sight he turned around then stopped when he saw his original Gears standing there with smug looks on their faces.

"What?" He deadpanned.

"You are so much like a dad, it's so cute!" Neon voiced all their opinions.

"That would imply that I'm their father, which I am not, now wipe those smug looks off your faces." He said.

"Think about it; you teach them, comfort them, spend time with them, and punish them when they do things they're not supposed to. You're like a dad." Yang listed.

"Shut up." He said.

"Admit that you're like a dad and we will." She grinned.

"You're the only one talking..." He said flatly.

"We need a dad name for you!" Ruby gasped with her hands on her cheeks.

"No, you don't." He said in the same tone. They started muttering different names that seemed to fit him but quickly dashed that name when it didn't sit right on their tongue or it just didn't sit right with him, none of them did.

"Oh! Gear Dad or Papa Ronin!" Nebula slammed a fist on her other hand. A lot of them started to agree with that which made him sweatdrop at the names.

"No." He deadpanned.

"Come on, Papa Ronin, it suits you." Yang grinned. He didn't say anything and started walking away from them, they all started following him while coming up with more names to call him. They were so caught up with coming up with names for him that they followed him around a corner and noticed that he was gone, like he was never there to begin with. Every single one of them scratched their heads and actually looked for him, only to see that he was actually gone.

"How the hell does he do that?" Nolan asked.

"Beats me. Hey Blake, didn't you say he did that when you found out he ripped one of your books?" May asked.

"Why are you asking me?" She asked.

"You, along with the rest of RWBY, are always near him. I just thought you'd know." May shrugged.

"He's done that numerous times with everyone though." Nebula said.

"I wanna know how. It's like he's a freakin' ninja." Russel said.

"I mean, it's pretty much impossible to beat him half the time during stealth exercises. He either hides in our blind spots, blends in with the shadows so well, or camouflages himself to where I think he becomes one with the environment." Ruby tapped her chin. They talked for a while longer at how he was practically unbeatable before they heard a whistle behind them, seeing him standing there without a care in the world.

"You guys suck ass at situational awareness." He twirled a COG tag in his hand.

"How did you even get behind us?!" Octavia cried out.

"I climbed through the ceiling." He pointed at it, making them all look up.

"There's no fucking way. No way you climbed through the ceiling before we were around the corner." Cardin shook his head.

"Believe what you want, I did. By the way, we're doing a test in four days, so be ready." Walker said as he walked past them.

"What is it?" Weiss called out.

"You'll see." He called back and walked down the hall.

* * *

All the original Gears were in the rain and mud while in the field of the combat platform. At first they were confused as to why they were out this late until he said what kind of test they were doing. A pain test. It was something Walker did constantly on Sera yet none of them had ever done on Remnant, it was actually scary for them because he seemed to enjoy it a little too much. The goal for it was to make it to the end while Gears on either side beat the shit out of you. He even took his helmet off and replaced it for a balaclava and some goggles to hide his identity.

Everyone went through the gauntlet of pain and let their auras heal them slowly while Jaune and Walker were the last ones left. Everyone cheering for them while getting one another ready to unleash the pain.

"Nervous, Jaune?" Walker asked while ignoring his pants and shirt getting soaked in the rain.

"You wish." He chuckled.

"This ain't shit, ain't nothing but some shit." Walker said while looking at both sides.

"Pain'll only get you down if you let it, right?" Jaune asked.

"That's right. Go get em!" Walker encouraged while Jaune jumped in place a bit while listening to the chanting of his name before heading inside. He was punched in the face and stumbled a bit but continued forward, only getting knocked on the ground when Nolan kicked the back of his knee. The second he got back up he was punched in the face again before getting a left hook to his stomach and making him stumble in pain. His aura was taking a massive beating as he was assaulted on all sides. His eyes slightly widened a bit when he saw Pyrrha at the end and she flashed an apologetic smile before punching his chest then throwing him into the puddle of mud. Everyone cheered his name and congratulated him for making it through. He could already feel his aura slowly come back but it also came back stronger than ever.

"Ronin! Ronin! Ronin!" They continued to chant his name while he just pounded his chest with a fist then headed in. He blocked Cardin's first punch but tanked the second to his stomach then another from Arslan. A punch to the back of his head knocked him onto the ground and they took turns kicking him before hauling him to his feet again. A punch to his ribs made him grunt in pain but bite back a shout, he was halfway through when a sudden punch to his chest made him wheeze. More pain later and he was at the end where he saw Blake give the same apologetic smile like Pyrrha before punching him in the diaphragm before shoving him into the same mud puddle as Jaune.

"I got ya." Jaune said as he helped Walker up for a second before cocking his fist back and punching him in his stomach. Everyone laughed at this while Walker smirked a bit through the pain and gave out a hoarse laugh. He was doing this to make their auras stronger but also because he wanted to have a bit of fun since they recently just lost a few Gears, he needed something to take that emotional pain away. Fucking White Fang were stepping up their game.

"So what was the reason to do this?" Blake asked while she nursed the back of her head after a very heavy blow.

"One, to build up your pain tolerance and aura, two... I felt like doing this." He winced a bit before taking a few deep breaths. Everyone realized that they did feel stronger but also realized that he was an absolute tank compared to them, never once having aura to protect him, so to experience so much pain and still be standing made him a tank compared to them.

"Hey boss, where's your helmet?" Russel asked.

"Shit." Walker said as he went back to the spot and grabbed it then walked back to them.

"Aren't you going to put it on?" Nora asked.

"Not until I get inside, I haven't felt the rain on my head in a while so something like this is enjoyable." He answered.

"Are you ever going to let us see your face?" Dew asked. He shrugged and tilted his balaclava up a bit to where it was only showing his mouth; they could clearly see that he had some facial hair while a scar could be seen that was the same as Jaune's. He had very distinct features for just the lower half of his face, his teeth were white but when he opened his mouth they could that he had small but sharp canines. Before any of them could see his face even further, he put the mask back down.

"Aw, come on! That was barely a tease!" Yang cried out.

"Yeah, that's not fair!" Weiss agreed.

"Whelp, guess you won't see it for a while now." He shrugged then put his hands behind his head. The girls whined at him while he just laughed at their dismay before he shrugged and made them all stand still while he just took off his goggles and balaclava. Everyone finally saw his head for the first time and they could say that he always kept himself groomed due to how well kept his head was, even if it was cut short. They heard that familiar clamp of his then the hum of his lights before he turned around and gave them a thumbs up. All of them hurt but they at least had some fun, they felt stronger as the pain started to slowly fade away.

"What now?" Blake asked.

"Bed. By the way, I'm heading to New Hope in a couple of days so I'll be gone for about a week." He said.

"Can we come?" Ruby asked.

"... Don't see why not." He shrugged.

"Awesome, do you think we can see mom and dad?" Yang asked.

"Yang, you guys are going on leave. I don't care what you do so long as you make it back in time." He said.

"So we're free to go anywhere?" Cardin asked.

"So long as you make it back in time, I don't care." Walker said. All of them went quiet for a while as they walked back to the command platform, it had been a while since they actually had some downtime. Months since they've seen their parents and weeks since they even talked to them. It was this moment did they realize that a lot of Gears were gone or were relaxing.

"Where are a lot of the Gears?" Jaune asked.

"Some are visiting their families for a few days or a week while others just want to relax on base. We've spent months pushing back the Locust a good bit so it's natural that we naturally unwind. I can tell they're itching to see their families so who am I to deny their requests, especially since they do their job." Walker shrugged.

"What are you going to do?" Weiss asked.

"Might do some work around New Hope or go on a mission, who knows. Don't you worry about me though, I'm fine." He waved. Some weren't convinced and began inviting him to stay with them but he kept denying them, his happiness didn't matter, theirs did. If they were happy enough then they'd keep fighting for that happiness and beyond. He fought so that they had a reason to keep fighting, because he hadn't been truly happy in a long time.

* * *

The proteges went back to visit the orphanage, which was in spectacular condition, and were greeted with open arms. They discussed what they had been learning and what it was like to be at the base, that he had been a good role model. Everyone there smiled when they would talk about it, like they had a newfound passion. Blake went to visit her parents for her time off and discussed her status with them in their new house. Ruby and Yang went to patch to visit their parents and discuss what was happening with them, laughing at when Tai still wanted that truck. Weiss and Winter went to Atlas to visit their mother but left shortly after their father and brother showed up.

JNPR went to visit Jaune's household along with his sister then were going to Mistral shortly after to visit Pyrrha's family. The rest of them went back to their families in the kingdoms, except Vacuo, and stayed with them for a minute. Him on the other hand? He didn't have a family to go back to at the moment, his parents were gone, his little brother was probably wondering where his brother disappeared to, and his grandfather was probably wondering the same thing. All he could really do at the moment was do some work around the settlement. It was more like a small city in his opinion. The place had stores, houses, hotels, a hospital miraculously, and even had a town hall. He may have had a little bit of help from the council in terms of funding but he used a majority of his funds to have this place built.

That wasn't the best part though, he had his own little personal bunker that could house a family. It had everything that was needed for survival; air filtration, battery backup, fueled generator sets, an armory, security command center, carbon dioxide and gas sensors along with a water sensor, a shooting range, a pool and obstacle course, rooms that would be considered luxury, a living room, and a kitchen. It was all _his_. Every single inch of the place was his. Nobody had an idea that all of this was right underneath their feet. The entrance was a small corner in New Hope and it was a heavy duty bullet-proof steel hatch with a non-slip ladder to get down.

"Either I'm a paranoid fucker that has a lot of power or I'm just cautious." He said to himself as he was lounging on the couch while looking at TV. Currently he was watching a survival show that he had been watching for the past couple of months and there were a lot of things he had learned from it. Just because he was a Commander and was battle hardened to the point where he couldn't be anything else didn't mean he didn't know how to relax.

A couple of episodes later and he decided he wanted to watch something else, which led him up to this point of not knowing what to watch now. Cartoons kinda weirded him out, reality TV shows made him scoff, sitcoms made him chuckle a bit, the news was the same as always, and horror movies didn't really scare him like they should. He decided to look at the news for a bit until he fell asleep, that always gave him good resting material. His scroll vibrated and he saw it was a call from Roman.

"We got a problem, more like you do." He said.

"What?" Walker asked.

"Someone set up a bounty for you, it's pretty big too." Roman informed.

"How much?" Walker asked. He should be scared but he wasn't, all that meant was that he needed to be more careful.

"Half a million." Roman said after a minute.

"Any idea who?" Walker asked.

"Might be Cinder, might be Taurus, who knows. Both want you dead." Roman said.

"I'm not surprised, if it is Taurus then that means he's not being a man. Probably wary since I've slaughtered countless White Fang." Walker said as he stood up and went to the armory.

"Supposedly he's been gathering a strike force against you, they're the best of the best. They're also the ones taking out your Gear squads." Roman said.

"... Is he leading them..." Walker asked quietly as he cleaned the teeth of the chainsaw. Those deaths of the Gears left a deep wound in his heart. He may not remember all his Gears' names but that didn't mean he didn't care about them.

"Guess not, bull boy ain't too keen on seeing your face. You're not worried?" Roman asked.

"Not really. I should be but I don't feel anything right now; plus, I've had hunter elites hound after me for two days straight." Walker replied.

"Could be Cinder, word from the underground is that she's looking for you." Roman said.

"Everyone's looking for me, it's annoying." Walker scoffed.

"Well that's all I got, so be careful." Roman said.

"Getting soft, are we Roman?" Walker smirked.

"Shut up... I'll send the location of the strike force in a couple of hours." He shook his head then hung up.

When the call stopped his face sported a frown. He didn't ask for much other than to just be left alone to do his job and kill Locust. This whole criminal bullshit just created a major headache for him.

"Fine... if I need to clean up the gutter rats then that's what I'll do. Ain't no shame in getting my hands dirty." He muttered then grabbed his sawed-off and Retro Lancer then made his way out of the bunker, locking it on the way out.

* * *

He arrived at the location that Roman had sent him and it rang typical White Fang hideout to him. An old rundown complex with a fence for little to no protection. Didn't these guys have elite training and were considered the best? So why were in some old complex that barely had any lighting? Seriously, he could have a fucking orgy the size of pool party and no one would think twice due to the exterior of the building.

"Maybe I'm thinking way too into this..." He sighed. Maybe it was due to the Locust having more devastating tactics or it was more on the side of they knew how to make their structures menacing while also efficient. The most the White Fang did was set up shop anywhere they could to, doing damage to whoever got in their way.

"Fucking rats... all of them." He snarled quietly. There was no going quiet with this one. He wanted them to know he was here, to see the absolute look of murder in his eyes as he slaughtered each one of them for taking away good people. His Gears may have been killers but that didn't mean they didn't have people they cared about waiting for them to come home. These fuckers denied that and stole their belongings.

Calmly walking up to the entrance, he shot the two guards dead before they could react then kicked the door open. He brought out his Retro Lancer and shot two guards in the knees and listened to their screams before silencing them when he plugged a few rounds into the back of their heads. Swiftly ducking underneath a swing then blocking the next with his weapon, he stared into the eyes of an angry panther faunus. She snarled in his face but he swiftly headbutted her then maneuvered around her body just in time to use her as a shield when bullets started flying into her, taking a little bit of her off at a time.

He bent down and fired between her legs and managed to get three head shots into the group before kicking the corpse of the woman towards them then shoulder charging into the next room. It was quiet for a few seconds as he stared at the White Fang and they stared at him back before reaching for their weapons. He sprung up quickly then grabbed the pistol of the one to his left and fired his Retro into him. He grabbed the corpse and shielded himself from a few rounds before pulling out his sawed-off and firing a shell into the nearest member, turning their body into a red mist and splattering the walls with gore.

There were screams of rage but he ignored them and slashed the nearest member, and watching as the blood sprayed in the air and started painting everything red. Quickly exiting the room and shooting a nearby grunt that was coming down the stairs. As he continued up the levels and killed anyone on whatever floor he was on, it was only then did he realize what they were doing. They were trying to wear him down little by little. If that was the plan then they didn't know him at all. The higher up he went the more skilled the enemies were becoming. On the third floor he ran out of ammo and resulted in using his bare fists or picking up weapons off of the ground and using them.

He spun to the side to avoid a torrent of rounds and took cover behind the wall as he waited for the man to come around the corner before punching him in the face a few times then ripping the weapon from his grasps and unloaded several rounds into his face. He fired behind him widely and managed to kill the person behind him before firing a few more rounds into two more members and riddling their bodies with holes. Tossing the weapon to the side after he killed another grunt, he picked up a nearby machete and held it in a reverse grip before picking up a machine pistol and quickly headed into another room.

The door opened quickly and he fired into two unsuspecting victims and stabbed the one on his left backside before spinning around and slicing off part of the one to his right's head. He fired from the corner of a nearby box near the door and killed the man with a gun before sticking his machete into the chest of the man with part of his head gone before firing a few rounds into his neck, killing him quickly. There were more people coming and he rolled over the box and stabbed another one before throwing the pistol away and picking up a new gun. More members came out of the rooms with melee weapons and it made him scoff internally before firing into the masses, killing a few then picked up another gun and started duel-wielding a mixture of a semi-automatic and a fully-automatic weapon.

He managed to kill several more members until his weapons ran out of ammo and he resorted back to his bare hands. One came at him with a night stick and he spun around and parried it before his hand shook then latched onto the man's face and squeezed violently. He threw the man behind him and the sickening sound of flesh being torn met his ears; looking down to see a large chunk of the man's face in his hand while blood just dripped between his fingers. Throwing the flesh away, he blocked a punch and retaliated by punching a man numerous times then grabbed his head and his neck then tore it from his shoulders. He entered another room and used the decapitated head to bludgeon another few members to death.

A cleaver on the ground made him smirk then pick it up to block a few bullets aimed for his neck. He spun around and managed to slice a woman's skull in half and watched her flail around for a second before kicking her body away and watching the blood spill out of her remaining head like a tipped over punch bowl. One of them came at him with a nightstick and he slashed his neck with the cleaver then jabbed the nightstick into his open wound and pushed it to the other side with a massive display of force. On the other side of the room was a man aiming a weapon at him, only to gurgle when a cleaver was suddenly embedded in his chest before he could blink when it was thrown at neck breaking speeds.

By the time he reached the eighth level, he had these "elite" strike force members shaking in their boots. All of them were aiming at the door while having their backs to the wall. Fear was clouding their minds at the moment, they had been so caught up and skittish that they fired the moment the door opened, only to realize it was one of their own. He stumbled a bit while looking down at his wounds for a second then slumped against the wall, leaving a bloody trail as he slid down.

"H-He killed all of them..." One of them muttered quietly. "He fucking killed all of them! How is one man able to kill fifty people like this?!" She shouted.

"Shut up! This is exactly what he wants!" Another one said.

"This was a mistake, I knew this was a mistake! He always knows when one of his own don't come back! He's the devil! He's the fucking devil and he's come to punish us for our sins!" She screamed hysterically.

"Shut up!" One of the shouted but soon turned to screams when a hand suddenly burst through the wall and gripped his face. All of them jumped in fear when they saw him dragged up the wall diagonally while screaming in agony as the hand started to squeeze tighter by the second. They saw his eye through the fingers and it was one of pure terror before the hand squeezed tight enough for blood to spurt out of the man's head. He slumped down on the ground violently with his forehead caved in while his left eye was popped out grotesquely and his jaw was slack due to being broken.

All of them suddenly looked up to see it was smoky in there but a very malevolent set of bright yellow lights could be seen staring at them silently before stomping off. They needed to get out of here, they knew taking this job was a mistake, they should have known that messing with a psychopath with this much skill was a death sentence. It was quiet for a while before they heard noises that resembled things being blocked off then a chainsaw rang out loudly followed by a scream.

"Don't tell me he's..." One of them trailed off. Their ears perked up when they heard thumping followed by dragging shortly after, a very painful moan made them wince. The haunting noise went on for a minute before the door opened slowly, making them take a step back in fear. One of the newer members of their force dragged himself towards them while reaching out to them. Only he couldn't.

Not when his arms were nothing but mere mutilated stubs. His face was one of terror and he gave a smile at them like he had found salvation before slumping down with a dull thump. It didn't take a genius to tell that he was dead, died from the amount of blood lost from his mutilation.

"We need to leave. Now!" One of them said while the rest nodded as they bolted towards the door. The moment the first one exited the door, a chainsaw rang out and made their eyes widen. The man screamed in agony as the teeth of the chainsaw ripped through his body and mutilated it, spraying the walls with blood and the ground with all of his innards. They jumped back in fright as Walker's form was in the door frame.

He silently walked over the two halves of the member and threw the bloody spare Lancer on the ground before slamming the door shut behind him.

"Sit." He commanded and watched the five of them sit down quickly. It wasn't his blood soaked figure or his yellow helmet lights that scared them, it was that metaphorical killer aura that seemed to resonate off of him.

"Hmm, you all really set up shop here, huh? Set up shop like a couple of sewer rats looking for a place to hide from the world." His voice seemed to come out in a haunting whisper. Without reason, he suddenly slashed the neck of one of them and watched his blood leak out of the wound profusely before he slumped over dead.

"H-Holy shit..." One of them whispered as they watched him look at the board and take pictures.

"So you've been hunting me for the past several months... I take it you were planning on attacking New Hope?" He asked them.

"Taurus was planning on taking you out of the picture then going after that new settlement. Said that if he can cut the head off the snake then the body will die." One of them said quickly.

"Is that so? Did Taurus actually say what was inside or did he just tell you that it was nothing but humans that wronged the world?" He asked.

"He said the second option." She said.

"Hmm, seems the bull is taking out his anger on both races now. Final question, how have you been getting those locations on my Gears? You lie to me and I'll make you wish death claimed you sooner." He said as he loaded two final shells into his sawed-off and aimed it at them.

"We have someone on the inside of your Gears." One of them said quickly.

"Who?" Walker asked as he aimed the gun closer.

"We don't know! We swear!" Another one said.

"You're lying." His eyes narrowed.

"We don't know! All we know is-" The man didn't get to finish when buckshot ripped his body in half and killed another one in the process. He didn't care what the rest had to say and ignored their pleas before he killed another two with his final shot while staring at the last person, who was shaking in her boots with fear.

"I'm going to give you two minutes to get out of here, never come back, and leave the White Fang. You tell Taurus what you saw tonight and if I see you again then I'll rip your body in half like I did to your comrades downstairs. Got it?" He asked.

"Y-Yes, sir." She blubbered as tears of fear leaked from the corners of her eyes. He narrowed his eyes at her then jerked his head to the door and watched her scramble out the door and listened to her quick footsteps as they trampled down the stairs. There was an explosion and the sound of body parts scattering made him scoff when she didn't realize there was a frag grenade stuck to the front entrance.

Looking at the desk, he saw a board with his picture on it along with some threads that led to some Gears that had their names crossed out. At first he felt bad for killing them but as more time passed and he killed more of them, the less he felt. They were targeting his Gears for doing their jobs, they knew taking out those squads would bring some hurt to him. It was only natural that he punished them for their crimes and got them out of the picture now rather than later. That still doesn't explain who was giving away their positions, those members said it was one of his Gears but that didn't add up... or did it?

He didn't know anymore. There was so much wrong with this world that it made him shake his head at their stupidity. Grimm? Let's divide our nations because we can't find a common ground due to what we look like. Locust? Let's still fight because of our previous problems. All these stupid reasons made him shake his head as he walked down the stairs with a laptop in his hand. It seems that woman took his advice to heart since the main entrance was unblocked. It was a shame she didn't get to see another day seeing as to how her body was scattered near the entrance.

"Why do I gotta be the one who has some fucking common sense around here?" He asked himself as he grabbed a laptop and headed downstairs, ignoring the bloodshed that he had caused in the past hour and a half. Now that the strike force was eliminated, all he needed to do was find out who was revealing the locations and kill them. There was no way in hell he'd be able to let them live, if he did that then they'd just find a way to get back at him. This was bound to happen eventually.

Betrayal always happens in war.

* * *

 **I am really sorry for not uploading in like, three months but I have been busy as shit. School and work have been kicking my ass and life in general is testing me so again, sorry. I don't have much to say other than review time.**

 **Ferno16: He is indeed.**

 **Wolf: That's kind of the plan, my friend. I'll try to work on other perspectives more.**

 **Blaze1992: That's up for your imagination.**

 **Wolf (again): I don't mean to but it just kind of happens.**

 **jkdelta38: Thank you.**

 **Stupendous Idiot: Yep.**

 **That's all the reviews, now onto my rules. Everyone, I don't care if I lose some people but can you guys not bash this story, please? I'm not saying anybody is but if you're planning to, just don't. This is literally just a hobby for me but I don't need bullshit because people don't like my story, I'm not a fucking top tier author on this sight, I'm comfortable with how this story is being paced and shit like that doesn't please me. Other than that, thank you all for sticking around despite my hiatus.**

 **Have a good day.**


End file.
